PRISONER'S POT DEPRIVATION UNJUST

To the editor:

Re: Judge: Outcomes 'Inevitably' Disappoint, The Daily News, Sept. 20:

When Nova Scotia Supreme Court Justice Joe Kennedy stated, "Perfect justice
is not to be found in this courtroom; it's not to be found, perhaps, on
this planet," he wasn't kidding.

One particular case that is troubling is that of Michael Patriquen, who was
sentenced to a six-year period of incarceration in a federal penitentiary
by Nova Scotia Supreme Court Justice Suzanne Hood for conspiracy to possess
"cannabis marijuana" for the purposes of trafficking.

Patriquen is a Category 2 Spinal Cord OCMA exemptee, for whom cannabis was
confirmed as the appropriate treatment for his condition by Dr. M. Lynch of
the Pain Management Unit at the QEII Health Sciences Centre.

Before being sentenced, Patriquen had requested that the sentencing be
delayed until a Charter challenge was heard concerning the stated inability
of the Corrections Service and Health Canada to insure that his prescribed
course of treatment would be available to him for the duration of that
sentence.

Hood ruled that Patriquen's rights hadn't been violated because he had yet
to begin serving his sentence. Only then, when he was deprived of access to
cannabis, could there be evidence proving his rights had been denied.

On this technicality, Hood denied Patriquen the right to make a Charter
challenge, stating that it was a matter of civil law between Corrections
Canada and Patriquen. Clearly, it was a matter of federal law that should
have been dealt with then.

Upon arriving at the prison, Patriquen was denied access to all treatment
for his first 10 days in custody. During that time, he lost more than 10
pounds of body weight. When he was finally offered a minimal pain remedy,
it was in the form of a treatment already dismissed as ineffectual by both
Health Canada and the QEII.

Under Canadian law, Patriquen has the Charter right to pursue a
legitimately prescribed course of treatment, even though imprisoned.
However, it is currently illegal to provide him with his approved
medication while in a federal institution. Consequently, an apparent
conflict of laws arises.

The Patriquen Relief Group has an online petition (at
http://www.railroaded.info/), and is requesting that the justice minister
review this case and, in the interim, confine Patriquen to supervised house
arrest, where he could resume his legally prescribed and federally exempted
regiment of treatment. Though not yet widely publicized, this petition has,
to date, garnered several hundred signatures.

Wayne Phillips

Hamilton