Pubdate: Fri, 06 Oct 2006
Source: Northern Daily News (CN ON)
Section: Pg B4
Copyright: 2006, Osprey Media Group Inc.
Contact:  http://www.northernnews.ca/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/2315
Author: Maria Calabrese, Osprey News Network; North Bay Nugge
Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/mmjcn.htm (Cannabis - Medicinal - Canada)

STURGEON FALLS ACTIVIST PANS POT LAWS

Michel Ethier walked out of the North Bay courthouse, stood in the 
afternoon sun and celebrated his freedom in a style befitting a pot activist.

"This tastes good. I love it,"

Michel Ethier

"This tastes good. I love it," he said, savouring a joint offered by 
a supporter after being released from custody Tuesday.

Ethier filed his papers from jail to challenge incumbent Joanne 
Savage and newcomer Claude Arcand for the mayor's job in West 
Nipissing during the Nov. 13 municipal election.

Ethier's campaign began as soon as he stepped outside.

"I'll do my best to put an end to prohibition of cannabis in West 
Nipissing," he said.

It's been more than four months since "Rev. Ethier" - head of the 
Church of the Universe, a religion that uses marijuana as a sacrament 
- - has tasted the weed that kept him locked up at the North Bay Jail 
longer than needed, he admits, because he wanted to make a point.

Ethier, 49, pleaded guilty Tuesday to possessing

140 grams of marijuana two years ago - about the same weight as a tin 
of tuna; drained.

He was sentenced to time served and released. The plea was the last 
breath in a dying case that saw the judge throw buckets of legal 
precedents at Ethier and drown arguments that his rights were violated.

Ethier took the case to trial to challenge the search warrants that 
led to his arrest.

The law when it comes to marijuana doesn't look like it's going to 
change anytime soon, said Ontario Court Justice Gregory Rodgers, 
referring to recent reports that the Conservative government plans to 
eliminate a $4-million medical marijuana program that researched the 
impact of pot on Canadians who are ill.

Ethier has raised legitimate issues during the trial about 
alternative uses of marijuana and how Canadian law prevents people 
from accessing it for medicinal use, the judge said, noting there's a 
price to pay for taking a stance contrary to law.

"Your freedom is very precious. You should be very careful what you 
do with your freedom and what you trade it for," Justice Rodgers told him.

"I'm this close to hanging up my skates," Ethier answered, holding up 
his fingers and grinning under his disheveled beard.

Still wearing jail-issued blue shoes outside, Ethier said he spent 
time with his grandson at a beach near his Sturgeon Falls home and 
expected to do more of that this summer instead of doing time.

"No money in the world can replace any of those lost days and the 
things I could have done," Ethier said.

He has a string of arrests involving marijuana and has often 
challenged the charges, saying they violate his religious right to smoke it.

Among his followers who hugged and greeted him outside the courtroom, 
were two men licensed to smoke marijuana for medicinal use, and 
others who said they use it illegally because of the red tape to get 
permission.

"A joint is better than taking a pill or a needle," said Ruby 
Ouderkirk, adding family doctors are reluctant to broach the issue 
and force patients to see specialists.

"People's attitudes change with time," added a hopeful Jim Hoad who 
was arrested alongside Ethier.

Hoad's charges were dropped after a federal Crown failed to show up 
for his preliminary hearing.

Court heard police found a 40-hectare marijuana grow operation and 
had search warrants to conduct surveillance at Hoad's former 
residence on Highway 64.

Police saw Ethier drive onto the property and hide a bag under the 
hood of his car. Highway patrol was alerted, stopped Ethier about 30 
minutes later in Sturgeon Falls and found the pot.

Ethier argued through his lawyer, Frank Falconi, that police didn't 
have a warrant to search the car.

There's a longstanding rule, the judge said, that police powers 
include the right to search an accused person and his surroundings at 
the time of the arrest.

Falconi also argued police had a search warrant for still cameras 
hidden in trees at the grow op, but not the cameras used to tape 
Ethier's visit.

Ethier has no reasonable expectation of privacy even though he wasn't 
the target of the police investigation, the judge said, adding police 
still witnessed the visit without the surveillance equipment.
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MAP posted-by: Beth Wehrman