POT RULING NOT HIGH ON ACTIVIST'S WISH LIST

You would think that Calgary's best-known cannabis crusader, Grant Krieger,
would be thrilled about recent rumblings by the feds about decriminalizing
marijuana.

But no. Krieger is, in fact, furious.

He talks to me as he drives calmly down Hwy. 22X running an errand for his
wife, Marie. The married couple are flat broke as a result of all of the
legal hassles and police raids he's been through -- and all of the sick
people, like himself, he feels compelled to help.

"To hell with all of the recreational smokers. The government should do
something for the sick people -- the medicinal users," says Krieger, who
suffers from multiple sclerosis, and as a result of his use of marijuana no
longer needs a wheelchair and suffers much less pain and spasms than he did
before he discovered "this miracle plant."

"The federal government needs to get its priorities straight. I've been
fighting for the right to access to my medicine for seven years and the
federal government is still just toying with ideas," Krieger complains.

Frankly, Krieger, whom I've known for several years now, is more down than
I've ever seen him.

"I'm just worn out -- they've just ground me down," he says, dejectedly.

The run-down car he has been borrowing from his niece was rear-ended last
week, and he is suffering pain as a result. The 1991 five-speed car has
only three gears that work, and he has $300 in bail money being held by the
courts, and $5,000 worth of marijuana and scales being held by the Calgary
police.

That's on top of $30,000 worth of cultivation equipment the police seized
and that he still owes $20,000 on.

"I'm so close to throwing my hands up in the air and saying, 'I quit,' "
says Krieger, who currently helps more that 125 people suffering from
chronic illnesses, like MS, AIDS, cancer, hepatitis C and Parkinson's by
supplying them with non-profit, organically grown medicinal marijuana.

"I'm just exhausted," Krieger says. "And this news just ticks me off."

The news he's talking about is the announcement by federal Justice Minister
Martin Cauchon, who said Canada is seriously considering decriminalizing
marijuana possession.

The move, if undertaken, would mean handing small-time users a fine akin to
a parking ticket, rather than arresting and charging them with a criminal
offence and pushing them through the court system.

Not a bad idea, but Krieger is right. First things first. Let's provide
some relief to severely sick and dying people first. This is their medicine
we're talking about and not some cheap thrill or high.

This mythically maligned herb provides relief to thousands of Canadians who
have Section 56 exemptions from the Controlled Drugs and Substances Act but
have no legal means of procuring marijuana legally.

Krieger has attempted to be that legal outlet for more than 100 Calgarians,
but the police and the courts keep cutting down his court-allowed grow
operations and seizing all of his equipment.

"I just can't take it anymore," Krieger says. But he has a lot more to take.

On Dec. 4. the provincial government is appealing last June's
groundbreaking ruling by 12 Calgary jurors that acquitted Krieger of
trafficking on the grounds of necessity.

The Crown alleges that Court of Queen's Bench Justice Darlene Acton
improperly charged the jury with regard to the defence of necessity.

What's more, all of these seizures of Krieger's medicine and equipment
flies in the face of a Dec. 11, 2000, Court of Queen's Bench decision that
gave Krieger the right to grow and cultivate marijuana. The ruling placed
no limits on how much Krieger could possess or carry and no restrictions on
him providing marijuana to other sick individuals.

So who's breaking the law?

In this case, it's the police.

And now Cauchon is talking about providing relief to partiers and tokers?

Is Krieger mad? He's smokin' mad.

He has every right to be.