POT EASES MAN'S PAIN, BUT NOT LEGAL TROUBLES

Errol Dammert just wants to drink his tea. However, given his tea contains
marijuana, Dammert has had quite a struggle to do what he believes is his
constitutional right.

The 59-year-old Osoyoos man suffered a severely fractured spine in a
motorcycle accident in 1984 and still suffers from chronic back, shoulder
and leg pain.

"When I smoke marijuana, it doesn't really take the pain away, but it takes
my mind away from the pain," he said.

He's now mired in a two-year battle with the justice system as he faces
sentencing on two charges of marijuana production.

"They classify me as being a criminal for growing my own marijuana and
smoking it," he said.

"I don't consider myself a criminal. I'm just trying to live a normal life.
I'm not involved in criminal activity."

Dammert could face up to 23 months under house arrest. However, he's hoping
given his condition and the evidence he's gathered, he'll receive an
absolute discharge.

"He wasn't growing for profit," said Dammert's lawyer Ian McAndrews, noting
the first charge stems from some plants Dammert grew at his Osoyoos
residence, while he was nabbed with a tray of clones or young marijuana
plants in the second incident.

He was convicted on both counts and will appear for sentencing April 12.

"He wasn't able to mount a medical marijuana legal defence because of the
costs," said McAndrews. "From the legal perspective, the federal
prosecution doesn't make it very easy for someone to put forward a medical
defence."

This will be Dammert's fifth trip back to court for sentencing. He is also
seeking a medical marijuana exemption from Health Canada. However, that
process has proven to be just as frustrating as the court proceedings.

Dammert must follow complicated guidelines to obtain an exemption.

"I'm just so fed up with all the bureaucratic mumbo-jumbo," he said, noting
he even travelled to Health Canada offices in Ontario last summer, but no
one would speak to him.

The latest hoop Dammert has had to contend with was getting an assessment
from a pain specialist.

Dr. T.J.N. Salhus noted that while the Canadian Medical Association doesn't
have enough medical data to approve marijuana for pain management, he has
given Dammert credit for finding his own pain remedy.

"In chronic-pain management, the best results are achieved when people are
independent and are able to manage the pain themselves," wrote Dr. Salhus
in his assessment. "It would appear to me, on assessment, that Mr. Dammert
has managed to achieve this."

Aside from marijuana, Dammert's only alternative for long-term pain relief
would be through opiates like morphine or Demerol.

"That's absolutely ridiculous," said Dammert. "I can't function on morphine
or Demerol. It zones you right out."

Dammert would like to see the medical establishment, and especially Health
Canada, be a little more responsive to the medical benefits of marijuana.

"They're making it so hard and so difficult for people to acquire
(marijuana for medical purposes)," he said. "Why I'm going through this and
why a few thousand other people in Canada are going through this is because
I definitely feel the benefits of smoking pot and drinking tea. I find it
very beneficial to my health."