TOKING DRIVER ACQUITTED

PEMBROKE -- An eastern Ontario man has won his court battle to smoke
marijuana while driving in what could become a precedent-setting case.

Former lawyer and marijuana activist Rick Reimer, who had a joint in his
hand when police pulled his car off the road was acquitted yesterday of
driving while impaired by pot.

Reimer is a multiple sclerosis sufferer who has an exemption to smoke
marijuana.

Justice Bruce McPhee said there wasn't enough evidence to prove Reimer was
impaired "beyond a reasonable doubt."

In the absence of objective expert testimony and without having had the
opportunity to witness Reimer straight since he never was during the trial,
McPhee said he could not convict.

While McPhee indicated in his verdict he accepted toxicologist Dr. Robert
Langille's testimony that smoking marijuana could impair one's ability to
drive, he could not tell whether it was the pot, Reimer's illness or
something else that caused him to swerve over the centre line, slur his
speech and lose his balance when he was pulled over, joint in hand, by
provincial police last February.

"I'm happy and I think it's the right verdict," Reimer said as he sparked
up a victory joint outside the Pembroke courthouse. But he said the results
could be overturned on appeal.

"If somehow (my acquittal) is perceived by the powers that be to be a
precedent saying smoking marijuana and driving is okay, then I can expect
there would be a fairly large cry for it to be appealed," he said.

The Crown has not decided on appeal.