Pubdate: Sat, 18 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: CanWest News Service
Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/mmj.htm (Cannabis - Medicinal)
Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/renee.htm (Boje, Renee)

MEDICAL-MARIJUANA ACTIVIST FACES EXTRADITION TO U.S.

OTTAWA - Justice Minister Irwin Cotler has ordered the extradition of
a celebrated activist who faces trial in California for tending pot
plants at the Cannabis Castle, a Bel Air mansion that served as one of
the state's first medical marijuana grow-ops in the 1990s.

Renee Boje, 35, who has a Canadian husband and young son, surrendered
herself Friday to court officials in British Columbia. She was granted
bail while pursuing judicial review of Cotler's decision. That process
will postpone her extradition until at least the end of September.

The American citizen sought refugee status in Canada in 1998 following
her arrest on drug-trafficking charges -- charges she believes
exaggerated her role in the medicinal-marijuana project.

In B.C., Boje helped found a club that delivered medical marijuana to
cancer and AIDS victims on the Sunshine Coast; she married Chris
Bennett, manager of the POT-TV website, and gave birth to a son,
Shiva, in 2002.
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MAP posted-by: Larry Seguin