Pubdate: Wed, 16 Jan 2002
Source: Aldergrove Star (CN BC)
Copyright: 2002 Central Fraser Valley Star Publishing Ltd.
Contact:  http://www.aldstar.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/989
Author: Kurt Langmann
Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/pot.htm (Cannabis)

WAR ON POT TURNED ON HEAD

A Bradner man is hoping to turn the war on drugs on its head.

To this end, Tim Felger has erected another sign on his property calling 
for the legalization of marijuana, in replacement of the sign that stood 
for about three years before police took it down during a January 3 bust of 
a grow operation.

The new sign says: "Randy White and George Ferguson, Legalize Marijuana 
Now! Before Abby Police shoot an innocent."

The previous sign was taken by police as evidence, and it said: "Legalize 
Marijuana Now!" and included Felger's phone number. Felger said he removed 
the phone number from the new sign because he was tired of crank calls.

Six people were arrested - including 45-year-old Felger - and police seized 
some 2,982 marijuana plants in various stages of growth on Jan. 3. All six 
were released from jail that same day, on promises to appear in Abbotsford 
Provincial Court on March 18, on charges of cultivation and trafficking.

Felger, who still has the soft drawl of his native Kentucky, came to Canada 
15 years ago and is a naturalized citizen of Canada. He said his campaign 
to legalize cannabis has caused a lot of aggravation for himself and the 
authorities, but he is adamant that the so-called war on drugs - or at 
least the marijuana users is a "massive waste of taxpayers' money."

He said that authorities are also creating a black market because "you 
can't fight it, the more you fight it the stronger you make it. Do the math 
- - there's hundreds of grow ops in Abbotsford, and what's the penalty? $500 
fines?"

Felger said he's been "picked up and put in jail 23 times, and not one 
charge stuck." It was his arrest in January, 1999 on charges of unlawful 
production of a controlled substance, trafficking and careless storage of a 
firearm - all of which were stayed by the court - that provoked him to 
erect the first sign.

Felger laughs about the police statement that the Jan. 3 bust was result of 
a "year-long investigation".

"I compliment them on their thorough investigation," said Felger, laughing. 
"Seriously, I admire the integrity of police, but they're embarrassing 
themselves with this war on marijuana. They're making it into a game and 
someone might get hurt.

"They had 20 cops come in (Jan. 3) with guns and wearing masks, because 
they thought I was such a threat to society. Yet, by midnight they said we 
had to leave the jail cells right away because they needed the room. They 
might tell other people that I'm dangerous, but it doesn't seem that they 
really believe it, now does it?" Felger said he made a small fortune when 
he sold the Domino's Pizza chain he started in 1988, and he bought the 
Bradner proPerty 11 years ago with some of the proceeds. He also owned the 
Express Pizza in Abbotsford, and it was for this venture that he acquired a 
permit for a sign on his Bradner property. The pizza sign was replaced by 
the marijuana sign three years ago.

This is an issue that particularly strikes at his libertarian nature, which 
he calls his "freedom of speech. I am the most patriotic guy around. I've 
read the Charter of Rights, the (U.S.) Constitution, and I believe in them. 
But they're decreasing our rights and one day soon they will have U.S. 
judges issuing warrants that will be executed in Canada by the FBI.

"I've told Randy White and George Ferguson several times that policies 
intended to make for a better community don't always come out that way." He 
scoffs at the suggestion that he apply to Health Minister Alan Rock for a 
licence to produce marijuana for the medical purposes which he claims he 
grows it. "Nobody tells me what I can or can't do."

Felger, who has organized two "smoke-in" demonstrations in Abbotsford's 
Mill Lake Park in the '90s, said that May 4 is "liberation day for 
marijuana, and I hope to have a rally at the courthouse that day."
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