DRUG-CASE SATELLITE OFFICE COMING BY SEPTEMBER

WATERLOO REGION -- Starting this September, Waterloo Region should have a
satellite office staffed by three full-time federal drug prosecutors to
handle the burgeoning marijuana homegrow cases and other drug charges.

The recent resignations of Gerry Taylor and Pat Flynn -- two local lawyers
who prosecuted federal cases in the region -- as well as an inability to
find qualified lawyers to replace them, prompted the government's decision
to open a satellite office here, Stephane Marinier, a federal Justice
Department official, said yesterday.

Marinier said he now has to find a location for the satellite office,
preferably near the courts in downtown Kitchener.

He said no decision has been made yet on whether the government will seek
applications for the positions of federal prosecutors or draw from the
department's current supply of staff lawyers.

"We are hoping to be up and running in September. That would be the goal,"
Marinier said.

This move towards having full-time drug prosecutors was prompted by Flynn's
decision to quit last month after eight years as a drug prosecutor.

His resignation closely followed the same decision by Taylor after 18 years
as senior drug prosecutor.

Both men said the $82 an hour they received to do the work wasn't enough to
cover their office expenses.

Taylor and Flynn have returned to their private law practices.

For the past several months, two or three staff lawyers from the Toronto
office of the Justice Department have been filling in for Flynn and Taylor,
but Marinier said that is no longer practical.

"We will now be in a much better position to serve the community and the
courts," he said.