Pubdate: Wed, 28 Feb 2001
Source: Edmonton Sun (CN AB)
Copyright: 2001, Canoe Limited Partnership.
Contact:  #250, 4990-92 Avenue, Edmonton, Alberta, T6B 3A1 Canada
Fax: (780) 468-0139
Website: http://www.canoe.ca/EdmontonSun/
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Author: Tony Blais

POT SAVED HIS LIFE, SAYS EX-FIREFIGHTER

Man Acquitted Of Drug Charges Hopes To Get Legal OK To Grow Marijuana

A former city firefighter who was acquitted of pot-growing charges on
Monday is hoping he will soon get government permission to legally grow
his own marijuana.

Retired captain John Klaver, 53, said he expects to find out from Health
Canada within two weeks whether he qualifies for a ministerial exemption
allowing him to possess and cultivate marijuana for medical needs.

Klaver, who claims he needs marijuana to combat depression he suffers as
a result of alcoholism, said he might have died without being able to
use pot for his illness.

"I thought I was on the verge of death at one time," said Klaver,
explaining he had dwindled to 150 pounds from 210 pounds due to the
side-effects from anti-depression medication, including nausea, diarrhea
and other stomach ailments.

"I had lost the will to live and everything else, and marijuana helped
me," he said.

"I could laugh now and again."

Defence lawyer Paul Burstein said Klaver's application for exemption
comes under Section 56 of the Controlled Drugs and Substances Act.

Burstein said 170 Canadians have already qualified for an exemption.
Klaver and his wife Wendy, 51, were found not guilty Monday of producing
a controlled substance and possession for the purpose of trafficking
after a judge threw out the evidence due to an invalid search warrant.

The charges stem from a Sept. 17, 1998, police raid on the couple's
Stony Plain-area acreage home that turned up a hydroponic grow operation
containing 40 mature pot plants with an estimated street value of about
$30,000.

Klaver said he is also hoping now that the charges have been dropped,
police will return his home-made hydroponic growing equipment which was
seized in the raid.

Klaver said he continued to use marijuana to treat his depression after
being charged, but would not say where he got his illicit supply.

The outspoken former smoke-eater, who retired in May 1999, claimed
depression and alcoholism "run rampant" in both the police department
and fire department.

Spokesmen for both departments denied the claim.
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