CARLISLE'S HOPES GO UP IN SMOKE

Holy Smoke Healing Centre Society president and mayoral hopeful Brian
Carlisle's apparent victory in the marijuana wars went up in smoke Tuesday.
He went to the Hope RCMP detachment to pick up pot plants that were seized
from him 16 months ago and left empty handed.

Carlisle said he got a phone call from Hope Mounties telling him his plants,
grow lights, pipe and glass jar of pot were ready to be picked up. But when
he showed up on Tuesday with his lawyer and a handful of supporters, Hope
RCMP had apparently changed their minds.

Carlisle, a 33-year-old father, who is engaged to be married, has seven
debilitating conditions, including HIV. He said it is the marijuana which
has been helping him to remain as healthy as he currently is. One of the
more recent diagnosis, is Erythma Nodosum, a painful swelling in his legs.
Carlisle's glaucoma was caused by a severe beating when he was 24. He has
also been diagnosed with ulcerative colitis and an enlarged heart. He is
particularly concerned about the state of his 51 plants and skeptical that
Mounties have kept them alive all this time while Carlisle has been paying
for his medication, instead of the cheaper alternative of using pot he's
grown himself.

"If it's not alive I want my money back that I had to pay for
prescriptions," he said.

Carlisle accuses Hope Mounties of being on a "power trip," and the
commanding officer, Staff Sgt. Jim Delnea, of being "a sore loser."

"He just can't accept the fact that he's wrong," Carlisle said. "He can't
say, 'hey Brian, we're sorry.' That's all it would take to make me feel a
little bit better."

Delnea confirmed that Carlisle and his lawyer got a call from the exhibits
custodian, but when Delnea found out that it was drugs that were to be
released, he tried to call Carlisle and his lawyer back to tell them to
bring documentation with them.

"I need a copy of his permit," Delnea said. "I tried to call him and
unfortunately he arrived at the detachment with supporters and many members
of the media and tried to make an issue of it." Asked whether Carlisle will
get his property back, Delnea said the RCMP will continue to check into his
permit.

Asked if the custodian goofed, Delnea said no.

"I want to make sure I don't set a precedent that is wrong and any rights
afforded Mr. Carlisle are honoured," he explained. "It's a new area."