BUSTED POT ACTIVIST CLAIMS HARASSMENT

The president of the Marijuana Party of Alberta has been busted for the
second time in six months after Fort McMurray RCMP searched his home this week.

Reginald Normore said yesterday he has mixed feelings about his charges. He
insists he smokes pot to ease the pain of ripped tendons in his arms, an
injury he incurred while working at a B.C. plywood plant a few years ago.

"It's more harassment than anything else. They should be concentrating more
on the crack dealers and meth dealers. (But) I can't blame them for trying
to do their job. It is still illegal, I suppose, although it is medical."

He said he'll never quit helping people who need marijuana for medicinal
purposes. And he swears he'll never help out the RCMP by giving them names
of marijuana dealers.

Cpl. Jim Jancsek, head of the drug section for the Fort McMurray RCMP,
doesn't think Normore's intentions are honourable and hopes all alleged
drug traffickers feel harassed by the Mounties.

"(Normore's) not selling medicinal marijuana, he's not using medicinal
marijuana. What he's doing is trafficking in marijuana. That's still
against the law in this country.

"Whatever claims he may have in relation to medicinal marijuana, he hasn't
backed that up with any formal applications to the government.

The people that are buying from him aren't using it for medicinal purposes.
They're using it quite simply to get stoned."

On Tuesday night, RCMP searched a home and seized 1.15 kilograms of
cannabis marijuana, a mini-cannabis resin extraction lab, 14 grams of
cannabis resin oil, $785 in cash, and drug-trafficking paraphernalia.
Police say the street value of the drugs and resin oil is about $16, 700.

Normore, 34, of Fort McMurray, is charged with drug trafficking and
possession of property obtained by crime. He was released on $750 cash bail.

Lee Owen O'Donnell, 36, of Edmonton, has been charged with possession of a
controlled substance and is to appear in provincial court on July 23.