MAN GREW POT FOR COMPASSION PURPOSES

Under the letter of the law, Paul Hornby is a confessed drug trafficker
who, when he was arrested last April at his Richmond home, had more than
1,000 young and mature marijuana plants growing in his backyard greenhouse.

But to Keith Scott, Hornby is something more of a saviour.

At the time of his bust, Hornby's illegal crop was destined for the B.C.
Compassion Club, a Vancouver-based organization that supplies pot to some
2,000 people who, with a doctor's referral, can prove a medicinal need for
the drug.

Scott, who is HIV positive, asthmatic and suffers from a rare and
debilitating degenerative bone disease that has left him bound to a
wheelchair, is one of those people. He said he's tried just about
everything to curb the chronic pain from which he suffers.

On the witness stand Wednesday in Richmond provincial court where Hornby
awaits sentencing under federal drug laws and a weapons' charge, Scott
listed the many legal drugs he's been prescribed over the years, from the
powerful AIDS cocktail with AZT, to painkillers such as morphine and
demerol, and steroids such as cortisone.

Nothing has worked, he said. And, "the side effects can be horrible."

Today, Scott said, "Marijuana is the only drug I use for pain management.

"It's very effective," he said in answer to defence lawyer John Conroy's
questioning. After smoking a joint, he feels hungry - a rare sensation for
an HIV-sufferer, his spirit is lifted and, most importantly, he said, his
pain subsides to the point where he can get out of his chair and go to the
bathroom without asking for help.

"So, in that sense," he said, "you could say a side effect is dignity."

Both his family doctor and a medical specialist support his marijuana use.
And earlier this year the federal government issued Scott a legal licence
that allows him to grow and possess pot for medicinal purposes.

But growing a quality product free of mold or other plant diseases has
proven a challenge, Scott said. And getting the drug from street dealers
can be scary and expensive.

Only the B.C. Compassion Club can consistently provide him with reliable
medicine, he told the court.

"I know it's going to be clean," he said. "I know exactly what I'm going to
get."

The crop Hornby was growing when he was busted by Richmond RCMP at his
Palmberg Road home on April 10, 2001, was to be one of the club's most
important to date.

"It was a large crop," Hilary Black, spokeswoman and founder of the B.C.
Compassion Club, said outside the court Wednesday.

Hornby was growing five different strains, each targeted to help fight
specific disease symptoms. And, using the standard business model of supply
and demand, the size of the crop was designed to force the price down,
making purchasing more reasonable for consumers, many of whom, like Scott,
live on a disability pension.

"Commercial cannabis costs as much as gold," Black said. "We think people
should be able to buy it for the cost of a tomato."

Black described Hornby as a "great humanitarian."

A researcher with a PhD in human pathology, Black said Hornby took a great
personal risk to test and grow the marijuana on his Richmond property - not
for money, but for the sole motivation of helping suffering people.

Under a written agreement with the club, Hornby was growing the pot at a
personal financial loss.

"And he was doing it joyfully," Black said.

Black said Hornby had never grown marijuana before and "he certainly
doesn't have a criminal mentality.

"In fact," she said, "he has a slight naivet' about the war on drugs. As
far as he's concerned, it's just another medicinal plant."

But, Black said, after armed police raided his home, "Paul's learning what
marijuana research is all about, unfortunately."

Hornby himself was reluctant to talk to the media until the conclusion of
his sentencing hearing, scheduled to wrap up Friday in Richmond.