MEDICAL MARIJUANA GROWERS MAKE BRIGHTON COURT APPEARANCES

A Cramahe Township woman and a Brighton man, who both claim to use
marijuana for medical purposes, appeared in Brighton criminal court
on November 7 on separate cases.

Dianne Bruce, accused by local police of growing marijuana at her
Cramahe Township property, made a first appearance in Brighton
criminal court, and was remanded until December 5 at the request of
Brighton lawyer Ben Ring, who acted as Duty Counsel last Wednesday.

David McCaskill, a Toronto lawyer who has represented Bruce since her
arrest October 19, was unavailable that day.

"It makes me physically ill to have to go to court because I haven't
done anything wrong," Bruce said after her appearance.

Bruce was featured in a story about medical marijuana that appeared
in the October 10 edition of The Independent.

On October 19, members of a police Combined Forces Drug Squad raided
her property, seized marijuana and personal items, and arrested Bruce
and her 18-year-old daughter, Michelle Hughey.

Both women were charged with drug offences, including Production of a
Controlled Substance for Purposes of Trafficking.

Police have also issued a warrant for the arrest of Jerry Kresjola,
Bruce's partner in the marijuana operation.

In the several interviews Bruce has given The Independent before and
since her arrest, she has insisted she and Kresjola were growing
marijuana for the medical needs of more than 40 people legally
recognized by Health Canada as "exemptees" (persons allowed to grow
and possess marijuana under Section 56 of Canada's Controlled Drugs
and Substances Act).

Steven Bacon, one of the first 10 Canadians to receive a medical
marijuana exemption from Health Canada in 1999, supported her in
Brighton court.

"Dianne is a compassionate person, not a criminal," said Bacon in an
interview outside the courtroom. "What's criminal is that police
continue to seize medication needed by sick and dying people."

Bacon, who has Hepatitis C, and feels constant pain from damaged
discs in his neck, won the right to use marijuana to relieve his
suffering.

Over the past decade he has seen many Canadians with AIDS, Multiple
Sclerosis, and other painful debilitating diseases improve the
quality of their lives by using marijuana.

"Although the Canadian Medical Association is now telling its doctors
not to support applications (for Section 56 exemptions), I know a lot
of doctors who believe there is something very therapeutic in
marijuana use," Bacon said.

Brighton resident David Casteels, who admits to using marijuana for
pain relief for more than two decades, was also in Brighton court
November 7.

Between September 2000 and February 2001, Casteels' home was raided
twice by OPP and drug squad officers, some of whom also participated
in the raid on the Bruce property.

Marijuana plants, growing equipment and personal property were seized
each time police busted Casteels.

On the advice of his lawyer, Casteels pled guilty to possessing
marijuana after the first raid. But the second raid has forced him to
"take an important stand," he said.

Casteels said lawyers in Toronto told him the second charges could
probably be dismissed on a "technicality" rather than putting
everyone through a lengthy trial.

"I don't want to win on a technicality," he said. "I use marijuana
for medical purposes, and I want to fight this as a medical case."

As a result, Casteels and his lawyer, Dan Thompson, have made a
"charter application" and are preparing to argue his constitutional
right to use the controversial herb.

Casteels' case is scheduled to go to trial in February 2002, one year
after police arrested him at his home.