COURT RULING PROMPTS POT-DELIVERY SERVICE

Medical Marijuana Club Activists Launch Order-By-Web Site After Judge In
Quebec Stays Possession And Trafficking Charges

MONTREAL -- Pot in Canada may soon be a click away with the launch of a
home-delivery service for medical marijuana over the Internet.

Marijuana activists in Montreal announced the start-up of http://www.marijuanahomedelivery.ca shortly after a Quebec judge threw out possession and trafficking charges yesterday against two volunteers at a medical marijuana club.

Quebec Court Judge Gilles Cadieux said authorizing those who are ill to use
marijuana in Canada while depriving them of a legal source violates the
right to life and liberty under the Charter.

Judge Cadieux stopped short of invalidating Canada's pot laws, saying such
a decision is up to higher courts. But he ordered a stay of proceedings
against Alexandre Neron and Marc-Boris St-Maurice, who faced charges of
possession and trafficking after Montreal police raided their Compassion
Club in 2000 and seized marijuana.

Mr. St-Maurice immediately declared a moral victory and convened a news
conference to announce the launch of a new marijuana-by-mail service for
the ill in Canada, opening a new frontier in the challenge to the country's
pot laws.

"We want to serve every person in Canada who needs it," said Mr.
St-Maurice, head of the Marijuana Party of Canada. "Marijuana is an
effective medicine that works wonders, and there are a lot of people who
could benefit from it and are not getting it."

The price of the high-grade therapeutic pot would be competitive with
street prices, he said: $30 for two grams or $120 for 10 grams. To
register, customers have to fill out a form and obtain a doctor's letter
diagnosing them with any one of the more than 200 ailments listed on the
Web site.

Some of the ailments on the list are already raising eyebrows. They include
everything from major illnesses such as AIDS and cancer to foot injuries,
lower-back pain, constipation and the hiccups.

To date, most Canadian doctors refuse to prescribe marijuana. With this
service, Mr. St-Maurice said, customers wouldn't need a prescription, just
a doctor's letter saying they suffer from one of the ailments.

He acknowledged that the Internet service is meant to prod the federal
government to offer ill Canadians a federal supply of medicinal marijuana.
If Ottawa acts, he said, the mail service will end.

The home-delivery service -- which bills itself as the first on-line
provider of therapeutic cannabis -- guarantees delivery anywhere in Canada
in two weeks, or it will mail another package. Mr. St-Maurice said he
especially wants to help people in rural areas who lack access to
compassion clubs in major cities.

"We think there are millions of Canadians who could benefit."

The Marijuana Party's plan does not sit well with Canada Post. Spokeswoman
Louise Roy said Judge Cadieux's ruling merely halted proceedings against
the two accused, but Canada's drug laws remain on the books.

"Anything illegal under the Criminal Code is also forbidden by Canada
Post," she said. Postal authorities could notify police if they have
"reasonable grounds" for suspecting marijuana is being sent through the
mail, she added.

Mr. Neron and Mr. St-Maurice began their legal battle in February of 2000
when police raided their storefront operation in Montreal and confiscated
66 grams of marijuana. The club had been serving patients with doctors'
notes or prescriptions.

But Mr. St-Maurice and Mr. Neron were charged before the federal government
created its medical-marijuana program last year. That program had been
prompted by the landmark Ontario Court of Appeal ruling upholding the right
of Torontonian Terry Parker to smoke pot to ease his epileptic seizures.
The court gave the government 12 months to amend the law that made it
illegal for sick people to possess pot.

Health Canada decided to include an exemption to Canadian drug laws
allowing some people to use marijuana to relieve serious ailments. However,
the Criminal Code makes it illegal for them to buy the drug.

About 200 kilograms of cannabis grown with the federal government's
approval in an abandoned Manitoba mine languishes in storage and will not
be used for patients, Health Canada says.

Pot activists have voiced growing frustration about the situation.

Yesterday, Pierre Leger, lawyer for the two Montreal men, said Judge
Cadieux's ruling establishes an important legal precedent.

"It's never been stated in a criminal court that individuals may be
justified in trafficking marijuana to help the sick and needy," he said in
an interview.

But he called the ruling a compromise because marijuana laws still stand,
exposing the Compassion Club to further police actions.