MAN WHO LOST POT BID APPEALING JAIL SENTENCE

A middle Sackville man who lost a bid to smoke marijuana for medical
purposes in prison is appealing his six year sentence.

Michael Ronald Patriquen filed a handwritten appeal Wednesday from
Springhill Penitentiary.

Justice Suzanne Hood of Nova Scotia Supreme Court ruled Spet 10 she had no
jurisdiction to hear Mr. Patriquen's arguments on his right to smoke pot
behind bars to relieve chronic neck pain caused by a 1999 car crash. Mr.
Patriquen says in his appeal that the judge erred in refusing to consider
his application under the Charter of Rights and Freedoms and in deciding
the merits of it "without allowing (him) the opportunity to call evidence."

Justice Hood gave Mr. Patriquen, a leader in the fight for legalizing
marijuana, six years in prison for conspiring to possess marijuana in Nova
Scotia and conspiring to traffic marijuana in this province and in
Newfoundland in 1999 and 2000.

Mr. Patriquen has federal licenses to grow and smoke marijuana, inhaling up
to five grams of pot daily for pain.

Justice Hood ruled an application by Mr. Patriquen, who claimed his charter
rights are being infringed upon by Ottawa's failure to provide a safe and
legal supply of medicinal marijuana, is a matter for the Federal Court of
Canada. At sentencing, Mr. Patriquen told Justice Hood that in dismissing
his application she was subjecting him to "cruel and unusual punishment."

The judge characterized his request as premature and said he should wait
until Correctional Service Canada rules on his right to smoke marijuana.

Mr. Patriquen is the only federal inmate in Canada with a marijuana exemption.