SOME MEDIPOT REFUGEES FIND SANCTUARY IN CANADA

As federal officials and some California prosecutors repeatedly flout or
ignore the state's 1996 law legalizing medical use of marijuana, dozens and
perhaps hundreds who claim they depend on the weed for pain relief and even
survival are taking flight. Like Vietnam-era draft dodgers, their usual
destination is Canada.

Medipot activists thought they had won the right to use their drug of
choice without harassment when voters handily passed Proposition 215 six
years ago, with its provisions for legal marijuana use upon the
'recommendation' of a doctor.

But over the past three years, federal narcotics officers and some local
officials have staged multiple raids on medical marijuana users clubs and
suppliers in Alameda, San Francisco, Los Angeles and Sonoma counties, plus
the homes of some prominent users.

Medical pot smokers began to feel the chill. Many now are drawn northward
by a year-old Canadian government policy allowing users a specified amount
of marijuana if they can demonstrate a medical necessity and then get
permits from local authorities.

So-called 'compassion clubs' of pot users say the number of medipot
refugees probably is in the hundreds, and growing, with most coming from
California. 'We have several here and we're just a small town,' said an
officer of the Sunshine Coast Compassion Club in Sechelt, B.C., an isolated
town of 18,000.