Pubdate: Thu, 02 Jun 2005
Source: Victoria Times-Colonist (CN BC)
Copyright: 2005 Times Colonist
Contact:  http://www.canada.com/victoria/timescolonist/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/481
Author: Richard Foot, CanWest News Service
Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/mmjcn.htm (Cannabis - Medicinal - Canada)
Cited: http://www.mapinc.org/find?196 (Emery, Marc)

PREGNANT WOMAN GETS YEAR IN PRISON FOR POT

A New Brunswick judge has sentenced a pregnant woman to jail -- forcing her 
to have her baby behind bars this summer -- after selling marijuana in what 
she claims was a cannabis compassion club for medical users.

Lynn Wood, 32, is six months pregnant. Her lawyer had pleaded with New 
Brunswick provincial court Judge Murray Cain to place his client under 
house arrest to let her deliver her baby at home.

But Cain insisted on a prison term Wednesday, saying Wood was likely to 
keep selling pot if not jailed. He said she would have access to medical 
care while having the baby in prison.

The sentence has outraged some marijuana activists, including 
Vancouver-based Marc Emery, publisher of Cannabis Culture magazine, who 
says Wood is the first Canadian ever sent to jail for selling pot for 
medical reasons.

"A prison term is unbelievable," Emery said Wednesday. "She's a wonderful 
person. She already has three children at home. This is going to be 
devastating to her."

Cain, however, rejected arguments at Wood's trial earlier this year that 
she and her husband James had operated a marijuana compassion club -- 
selling only to proven medical users -- at the couple's Cannabis Cafe in 
downtown Saint John.

Wood claims she asked for doctor's letters from customers before dispensing 
marijuana.

But prosecutors said the cafe sold pot to people on the basis of only a 
personal statement that they needed marijuana to ease the pain and 
suffering of various medical ailments.

"She had a form that people needed to fill out to become a member [of the 
cafe] and there was no requirement that a doctor sign this form," said 
Crown prosecutor Nicole Poirier in an interview Wednesday. "The applicant 
would simply state that she or he had a medical condition."

Poirier also said Wood's customers included students from two nearby high 
schools.

The Cannabis Cafe, located across a busy intersection from Saint John's 
police department, has been a thorn in the side of city authorities for 
several years, especially since 2003 when the Woods claimed to be operating 
the first over-the-counter medical marijuana store in Canada.

Several government bodies, including the Senate, the Ontario Court of 
Appeal and the B.C. Provincial Court have recognized cannabis compassion 
clubs as supplying the legitimate needs of medical marijuana users.
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MAP posted-by: Jay Bergstrom