Pubdate: Mon, 03 Apr 2000
Source: Ottawa X Press (CN ON)
Copyright: 2000 Ottawa X Press
Contact:  69 Sparks St., Ottawa, Ontario, Canada K1P 5A5
Fax: (613) 232-9055
Website: http://www.theottawaxpress.ca/
Author: Sarah McGregor
Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/renee.htm

U.S. HARSH MARIJUANA LAWS: WAR OR WITCH HUNT?

As history illustrates, every war claims innocent casualties, pawns in
a fight that are often spawned by government-vested interests.

Renee Boje is a victim of the United States' War on Drugs -- a battle
which has escalated from the early 1980s to a $20 billion a year
witch-hunt, incarcerating more Americans than those charged with
murder, rape, robbery and aggravated assault combined, says Eugene
Oscapella, director of the Canadian Foundation for Drug Policy.

"The United States government has gone insane over drugs," says
Oscapella. The War on Drugs "has nothing to do with sensible public
policies; it's about witch-hunts and punishment."

So insane are the policies that a first-time offender caught with less
than one gram of cannabis could face up to five years in prison and/or
a $250,000 fine. In Canada, a person charged with possession faces a
maximum of six months in jail and/or a fine of $1,000.

Canada's more relaxed attitude to marijuana was the main reason Boje
fled to Vancouver in 1998, leaving her life -- and four drug-related
charges of cultivation of marijuana, intent to distribute, conspiracy
and possession -- behind.

Boje was in Ottawa last week speaking with a University of Ottawa
criminology class on drug policy issues and with local media.

"The United States' War on Drugs is really a war against their own
people," says Boje. "The U.S. spends $17 million a day building more
prisons. There is a marijuana arrest every 40 seconds... and one in
six people in prison is there for marijuana-related charges."

On July 29, 1997 Boje was arrested while working as a technical
illustrator for marijuana activist Todd McCormick, who was growing
thousands of cannabis plants in his Bel Air, California mansion. Under
a three month old California state law that gave patients and their
primary caregivers the right to cultivate and use cannabis for
medicinal purposes, McCormick, who suffers from cancer, was permitted
to grow and smoke cannabis.

But the federal Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA), preoccupied
with stamping out the nation's undeniable drug problem, largely
ignores the individual laws of the nine states, all of which held
referendums to legalize marijuana for medicinal purposes.

In October 1997, the DEA dropped the charges against Boje regarding
her alleged involvement in a drug ring, only to reinstate them a few
months later. Boje packed a few belongings in May 1998 and left for
Vancouver, B.C.

"I thought it was terrible being on the run because I couldn't start a
life," says Boje. "I didn't know how long I was going to have to do
this, or how it would ever end."

It was only a few months later when the RCMP found Boje at the
Vancouver Compassion Club. On Feb. 9, 1999 British Columbia Supreme
Court Justice Michael Catliff decided to surrender Boje to the U.S. to
face all four counts. She was released on $5,000 bail and is currently
residing in Vancouver's Sunshine Coast area, waiting to see if
Canadian Justice Minister Anne McLellan will surrender her to the U.S.
authorities on Monday, April 24.

Boje has less than three weeks to gain the same "Canadian compassion"
draft dodgers garnered during the Vietnam War.

"My lawyer told me that if I get enough public support and media
attention I won't have to go back because Canadians will be
(compassionate)," says Boje, whose campaign has already generated
1,000 letters to McLellan. Boje says, all else failing, she can appeal
the decision to the Supreme Court of Canada, a fight that would cost
her $250,000 and buy her another year and a half in Canada.

If Boje's fight is successful, she believes Canada will be sending a
clear message that it believes U.S. drug policies are too harsh.

McLellan will be accepting letters until April 24. For more
information or to donate money visit Boje's website at
http://www.reneeboje.com
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MAP posted-by: Richard Lake