Pubdate: Sat, 29 Apr 2000
Source: Calgary Sun, The (CN AB)
Copyright: 2000 The Calgary Sun
Contact:  2615 12 Street N.E., Calgary, Alberta T2E 7W9
Fax: (403) 250-4180
Website: http://www.canoe.ca/CalgarySun/
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Author: Kevin Martin

COUPLE ENDS DRUG LAW FIGHT

A disabled Calgary couple who say pot eases their pain, abandoned their bid 
yesterday to challenge Canada's drug laws.

John and Anne Marie Kinsey each pleaded guilty to marijuana-related charges 
following a raid on their southeast Calgary home nearly two years ago.

Crown prosecutor Scott Couper said the couple kept a few small marijuana 
plants in their 26 St. S.E. house.

"The search revealed a small marijuana grow area in the living room," he 
told Justice Scott Brooker of the raid June 24, 1998.

Brooker gave Anne Marie Kinsey a nine-month suspended sentence for simple 
possession after rejecting Couper's suggestion of a $750 fine.

John Kinsey, who is often confined to a wheelchair, will be sentenced in 
June on a more serious charge of producing a controlled substance following 
preparation of a pre-sentence report.

Brooker said a suspended sentence without community service was warranted 
for the wife because a fine would be too much of a hardship.

Defence lawyer Robert Haslam said his client suffers from glaucoma and is 
often bed-ridden with migraine headaches.
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