Pubdate: Thu, 09 Apr 2009 Source: Winnipeg Free Press (CN MB) Copyright: 2009 Winnipeg Free Press Contact: http://www.winnipegfreepress.com/info/letters/index.html Website: http://www.winnipegfreepress.com/ Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/502 Author: Mike McIntyre Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/grant.htm (Krieger, Grant) Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/mmjcn.htm (Cannabis - Medicinal - Canada) POT CRUSADER MAY AVOID JAIL SENTENCE Manitoba justice officials are not seeking a jail sentence against a medical marijuana crusader found guilty of trafficking pot to several clients across Canada. Grant Krieger feared he would die behind bars after jurors found him guilty during his high-profile Queen's Bench trial last fall. But the Calgary resident returned to Winnipeg for sentencing Wednesday and learned the Crown agrees he can remain free in the community under a conditional sentence. The judge has reserved her decision until next month. Krieger, 54, announced last week he was shutting down the Grant W. Krieger Cannabis Research Foundation, in which he has distributed pot to hundreds of sick and dying people across Canada. The move prompted the Alberta Court of Appeal to replace a four-month jail sentence with 18 months of probation. Krieger has been battling progressive multiple sclerosis since 1978 and says his only relief comes from smoking and ingesting cannabis. At his Winnipeg trial last year, Krieger admitted he broke the law but was seeking to be acquitted on sympathetic grounds. Jurors took only about 30 minutes to reach their unanimous guilty verdict. "There are no victims in this," Krieger told the Free Press outside court Wednesday. "The only victims are people I can no longer serve." Krieger testified in his own defence how his life was in a rapid downward spiral and even included a suicide attempt prior to discovering the magic of marijuana. "Without it, I wouldn't be standing here before you today," he told jurors. "I'd be in a wheelchair or dead right now." Krieger said his many customers are in a similar position -- they are suffering from chronic pain, disease and even terminal illness and have come to him looking to improve their quality of life. He admits selling pot to dozens of people across Canada -- including several in Manitoba -- but insisted there is a major difference between him and your garden-variety drug dealer. The Crown's case against Krieger was simple -- although he had clearance to possess pot for his own health reasons, he didn't have permission from the federal government to sell marijuana for medicinal reasons. There is a program in place to distribute the drug to those who get special clearance from doctors, but Krieger said the whole system is flawed. He said most doctors are afraid to make such a declaration. And Krieger ripped the feds for the quality of their drugs, which are produced in Flin Flon. "It's grown in a dirty mine shaft," Krieger told jurors. He said the drug is overly processed and diluted by the time it gets to those in need. - --- MAP posted-by: Jay Bergstrom