EX-PEACEKEEPER FIGHTS FOR POT USE

Says He Grows Marijuana For Medicinal Purposes

A former soldier who helped keep the peace in Cyprus is now fighting the
Canadian government for the right to smoke marijuana.

Herbert Wilson, 38, of Chester served as a peacekeeper in Cyprus in 1988,
as a member of the Princess Patricia's Canadian Light Infantry. He was
awarded the United Nations Peacekeeping Medal, Canadian Peacekeeping
Service Medal and Nobel Peace Prize Medal.

He has been charged with one count of production of a controlled substance.
If convicted, he could face up to seven years in prison.

Wilson said the charge has already cost him a job as a labourer.

The single father hurt his back moving army supplies for 10 years. A CAT
scan shows he has degenerative disk disease in his lower back, he said.

He left the Armed Forces years ago, and recently turned to marijuana to
deal with the pain.

Wilson freely admits he grows his own marijuana, but said it is not a crime.

"They want me to have a criminal record for doing something that
ameliorates my suffering," he said.

Wilson said he'll fight the charge in Nova Scotia Supreme Court in
Bridgewater tomorrow.

He smokes up to two ounces a month: "I have a puff here, a puff there. I,
by no means, abuse it."

Wilson had been given nine different prescription painkillers. He said they
made him sick, gave him cramps, constipation and diarrhea. The stronger
ones put him in a haze, making him "non-productive and zombie-like."

Then he tried marijuana.

"It was amazing, the relief it gave me -- it was just like the pain melted
away," Wilson said.

"I was sitting there waiting for the mind-altering psychoactive thing to
make me go crazy, and nothing happened. They're demonizing it."

Wilson said he's not a dope-head. A member of Mensa Canada, he said: "I'm
not stupid; I'm not some dope-smoking lunatic."

He wants to apply for an exemption from the federal government that permits
him to smoke marijuana for medical reasons, but his doctor won't sign the
forms. Wilson said his doctor told him he doesn't want to be held
responsible if something happens.

Wilson said he'll fight the case himself, arguing Ottawa doesn't have the
authority to ban pot.

He said the Constitution says Canada is founded on a principle that
recognizes the supremacy of God. And, he said, Genesis 1:29 in the Bible
says: "I give you every seed-bearing herb on the face of the Earth ... They
will be yours for meat."

Britain just announced it will effectively decriminalize cannabis by next
summer.

Canadian Justice Minister Martin Cauchon is considering relaxing Canada's
marijuana laws to make possession punishable by a fine rather than prison.

But Cauchon said he does not plan to make dope legal.