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THANKS FOR THE SUPPORT! Freedom to sell Medical Cannabis?
By Ted | March 4, 2002
By Ted Smith
Coordinator,
Cannabis Buyers’ Clubs Of Canada
On Weds. Feb 27, 2002, I was in court with Colby Budda and Gary Henry,
as we are all involved with the Cannabis
Buyers Clubs of Canada and I
have been charged with possession for the purpose of trafficking
cannabis for being caught selling medical marijuana. Those not
familiar with the circumstances will need to
do research on the
www.hempology.com web-page. This was our first appearance on these charges,
but it is certainly not the first time the courts have heard about the club
or the first time they dealt with me. In fact, I am out on bail after
having been arrested twice in Nov. 2002 for sharing joints and pot cookies
in pubic in peaceful acts of civil disobedience meant to highlight the
ongoing plight of those in need of medical marijuana. So this Weds., the
most important consideration was to keep me out of jail for having broken
my bail conditions, in part because I have already been granted a
constitutional challenge because of my other arrests and will be able to
argue the Charter of Rights and Freedoms at that time. To prepare for the
possibility that the crown prosecutor tried to revoke my bail I requested
written letters of support from every person and group willing to stand up
for my character. I would like to extend by thanks and appreciation to
everyone who wrote in support of me and the CBC of C as we collected over
200 statements, with many letters expressing such passionate feelings that
one cannot help cry in sympathy of their situation and in anger at a
society which constantly turns it’s backs upon the disadvantaged and
disorganized. However, we did not need the letters in court as the crown
appeared both unwilling and unable to put up much of a fight.
If you read the police report- and a later story will print many sections
of the report- you could understand why the crown prosecutors may be
reluctant to try and throw me in jail. Throughout the report the police
speak about me and the others in the organization with respect, to the
point where near the end a statement is made where the officer says,
“SMITH exhibited a superior knowledge of criminal law, especially in laws
pertaining to the cultivation and sale of marijuana.” We are going to
condense the police report into a letter of reference, as it basically
states we are honest, good-willed people doing the dirty work of HEALTH
CANADA.
We were prepared on Weds to immediately accept the police report and set a
trial date for after the June 3-5 Constitutional trial, the idea being that
until my Charter of Rights and Freedoms arguments work their way to the
Supreme Court of Canada there will be no criminal trials. It may be that
the Attorney General of B.C., the Federal Department of Justice, the local
police department and others looking at this case decided to pick a new
lawyer company to deal with these charges because they don’t want the left
hand to know what the right is doing. The crown prosecutor did not really
know anything about my previous charges, partly because the fact that I was
on bail was not in the police report, and did not bring up my past in court.
Judge Smith who was in the courtroom is actually the administrative judge
in the Victoria Courthouse and it was him who granted me the constitutional
trial, refusing to let me even witness some court proceedings.
He knows that I am on bail, but because the crown did not bring it up he
had no opportunity to say anything about me, let alone make any decision
about whether or not I should be put in jail. It was really quite strange
because normally the crown prepares a sentencing report before coming to
court the first time, and even after the Justice of the Peace gave the
crown an extra half hour to consider what possible punishments they want
to see imposed upon us, the lawyers were still not able to determine what
they would like to see happen to me. So by showing up ready to go to
trial we were able to avoid any information about my bail conditions being
entered into the courts and so I continue to be a free man.
These new charges only further expose the unreasonable nature of the
prohibition of cannabis, especially in regards to people who desperately
need this medicine. We are now confident in the future of the CANNABIS
BUYERS CLUBS of CANADA, and legalization in general. It appears as
though the police now understand and appreciate the diligent work of
CBC of C, and that includes the entire group not just me. Everyone is
now waiting for the courts to finish off what the politicians started
decades ago.
Again, thanks for all the support in letters, in the courtroom, at the club
and on the streets as we finish these laws off for good.
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