JUDGE WON'T GRANT POT GROWER 'FREEDOM' OF HOUSE ARREST

House arrest sometimes provides too many freedoms to deter others from
crime, says a Nova Scotia Supreme Court judge.

"In house arrest, one retains many freedoms," Justice Walter Goodfellow
noted this week in refusing to grant a Pictou County marijuana grower a
conditional sentence.

"For example, one can choose what time one goes to bed and what time one
rises, whether and what time of the day or night to watch T.V., listen to a
radio, CD or whatever," Justice Goodfellow wrote in a Nov. 27 decision, a
day after he sentenced Ronald Murray MacIvor, 48, to four months in jail
and one year probation.

He refused a joint recommendation from the Crown and defence to give Mr.
MacIvor a six-month conditional sentence - with the first four months
served under house arrest, followed by one year's probation.

"In house arrest, one can utilize a refrigerator at what time one chooses,
eat what one wishes, carry on a personal relationship, wine or beverage of
choice at meals or anytime of the day or night, have visitors as and when
one chooses."

The list of freedoms in house arrest is "endless" but none are available
when a person is incarcerated, the judge said.

On Sept. 4 in Pictou, Mr. MacIvor of Forbes Mills Road, Merigomish, pleaded
guilty to unlawfully producing marijuana at his home and possessing three
kilograms of the drug for the purpose of trafficking.

He uses marijuana daily for chronic lymphocytic leukemia and degenerative
arthritis, and is seeking a medical certificate.

Diagnosed with leukemia only last year, Mr. MacIvor has used marijuana
daily for 16 years.

During a raid on Mr. MacIvor's property on Sept. 20, 2001, RCMP seized a
quantity of dried marijuana, several marijuana plants, marijuana seeds and
other items.

Mr. MacIvor confessed to police that he owned the drugs and had been
growing marijuana for a number of years but he denied ever selling it.

His wife Linda MacIvor told police that growing marijuana was a hobby for
him and that they both used it for medical purposes.

Ms. MacIvor also denied selling marijuana, but did say that they smoked
marijuana with friends that were over visiting.

House arrest would not be a deterrent, the judge said. "One can almost
sense that under house arrest, the visitors, the offender, and his wife,
graciously and gratuitously supplied with marijuana, will rejoice at his
avoidance of actual imprisonment."

In fact, house arrest would "foster disrespect for the law amongst the
offender's circle of visitors and friends."

He is the second Supreme Court judge in recent months to speak out on
conditional sentences.

In September, Justice Gerald Moir, while sentencing a man in a baby abuse
case, defended the concept.

"Those who think house arrest a mild punishment might think harder about
what it would be like to be under state supervision and confined to their
homes day in and day out, week in and week out, month in and month out."