PAROLED POT GROWER GOES 'LEGIT' WITH FRANCHISE

After serving 14 months of his four-year prison term for his role in a
multi-million-dollar marijuana growing and smuggling operation based in
Surrey, Donald Briere is back in the pot-growing business =AD but this
time, it's legal.

Briere is involved with a proposal to establish a franchised chain of cafes
for people who are permitted to use pot for medicinal purposes.

"It's totally legal," an enthusiastic Briere told The Leader shortly before
he was scheduled to host a seminar on the concept at the Sheraton Guildford
Hotel on Friday.

Briere was reluctant to give details about the proposal, saying the
"franchise people" have asked him not to disclose any information before
the seminar.

Briere said he is "110 per cent" committed to medicinal marijuana and is
actively working to promote the cause.

"There's no moss growing under these feet."

Briere, a Marijuana Party candidate in the Surrey-Tynehead riding in the
last provincial election, was sentenced to four years in jail on Oct. 10,
2001 for several offences relating to marijuana growing, including
possession of a prohibited weapon.

The Canadian parole board granted Briere day parole on Dec. 19, 2002.

The franchise concept is linked to the Canadian Sanctuary Society that
Briere founded, which is dedicated to helping people legally obtain
marijuana for medical purposes.

During the police investigation that led to his conviction, court documents
show Breire told officers that he prided himself on providing jobs for the
unemployed by hiring elderly people to babysit his grow-ops and by
repairing any damage to the rental homes he used for marijuana growing.

Before his arrest, Briere funded Hemp Scientific International, a venture
designed to develop legitimate uses for hemp =AD a variety of the marijuana
plant family.