PRELIMINARY HEARING IN MAY FOR MEDICAL POT GROWERS

Despite intense pre-trial negotiations Monday afternoon between federal
prosecutors and attorneys representing three local people facing marijuana
related charges, the cases are set to go to preliminary hearing in the next
2 months. Lawyers for Cramahe Township residents Dianne Bruce, Jerry
Kresjola, and Bruce's 18- year-old daughter Michelle Hughey, met with their
Crown counterparts in the Cobourg chambers of Justice Rhys Morgan. After an
hour of closed-door talks, the three accused were brought before Justice
Morgan, and remanded for preliminary hearings for April and May. Hughey,
who is charged with possessing marijuana in her mother's Dundonald home
during a police raid last October 19th, appears in Cobourg court April 8th.
She has been free on her own recognizance since the day of the bust. Bruce,
who stated steadfastly that she was growing marijuana for more than 40
people granted permission to use the drug under section 56 of Canada's
Controlled Drug and Substances Act (CDSA), appears in court again May 7th.
Kresjola, who was not at the Bruce residence when the drug raid took place,
and who subsequently surrendered to police in February, was also remanded
until May 7th. Kresjola remains in custody and appears before Justice
Morgan again later this week, or early next for a bail hearing. In an
interview outside the courtroom, Hughey said her lawyer, Dan Thompson, was
unable to persuade prosecutors to drop the marijuana charges against her.
Crown attorneys are using her to put pressure on Bruce, she said. " They're
just looking for a way to get to Mom through me," she said. "But Mom's not
going to plead guilty to anything just to have my charges thrown out." "We
haven't done anything wrong," Hughey said. Bruce, who was granted bail
after spending nine days in jail following the raid, said the stress of the
past 5 months has aggravated her numerous medical problems, including
spastic colon and fibromyalgia. "I know my lawyer's doing all he can, but I
don't understand why (Special Prosecutor) Doug Mann can't see how wrong
this is," Bruce said. " I was growing medical Marijuana for sick people,
and the police knew about that for months." Police officers told a reporter
from The Independent they were aware of Bruce's marijuana garden as early
as May 2001. One Cobourg drug squad officer admitted to being asked to sit
on the board of Bruce's company, Lady Dyz Helping Hands, in June, but
declined because of an "obvious conflict of interest." A Peterborough
member of the police squad visited the "grow" several times last summer and
fall, and Bruce has a colour photograph of him standing among shoulder-high
marijuana plants in September. Bruce's lawyer, David McCaskill, said
regardless of what evidence Bruce and the others present in their defense,
the crown appears ready to make an example of Ms. Bruce, and nobody should
expect any "quick resolution" of these cases. McCaskill said if the Bruce
case goes to trial by October, "that would really be moving things along."
"At the end of the day, we have to fight this properly, and that's going to
take some time," he said. "At some point we are going to get some answers
under oath, and then we will see the real story come out." McCaskill said
he expects the Bruce case will set legal precedents about medical marijuana
operations, and challenge the federal government's own record about "who
should be granted exemptions and growing privileges." " We are going to
show (the Crown) that they are supporting a law that is fundamentally
unfair," he said. "This could very much end up as a Morgentaler-type case."