Pubdate: Fri, 10 Dec 2010
Source: Peterborough Examiner, The (CN ON)
Copyright: 2010 Osprey Media Group Inc.
Contact: http://drugsense.org/url/4VLGnvUl
Website: http://www.thepeterboroughexaminer.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/2616
Page: 5
Author: Fiona Isaacson

CHALLENGE AGAINST DRUG CHARGES TOSSED OUT

A 58-year-old Douro-Dummer Township woman pleaded with a superior 
court judge to throw out her drug charges Thursday, but was told she 
was bringing her concerns to the wrong court.

"I just want to live," Debra McIntyre said, pleading with the court, 
sometimes banging her hands on the table.

"I'm trying as hard as I can to stay alive."

McIntyre is jointly charged with two other people with marijuana 
production and theft of electricity.

McIntyre was in court based on the same arguments filed by Mark 
MacDonald and Benny Almud in September, which a judge ruled had no 
standing in Superior Court of Justice. But McIntyre was also trying 
to distance herself from one of her co-accused who she referred to as 
"the predator," the man who built her home.

McIntyre said she didn't know how she was going to make it through 
the winter without electricity or water, which have both been cut off.

Mr. Justice Drew S. Gunsolus said he didn't have any jurisdiction to 
deal with McIntyre's charges and that she was "under a total 
misapprehension of what she can and can't do."

He asked Crown attorney Mauro DiCarlo to inform McIntyre's lawyer 
Jason Forget about "the extreme upset that (the situation) is causing her."

Forget is representing McIntyre in Ontario Court of Justice, the 
court her charges are currently before.

McIntyre represented herself at superior court Thursday.

McIntyre, Tina Butcher, 47, and Robert Glabais, 40, were jointly 
charged Jan. 7 with production of marijuana and theft of electricity 
at a Douro-Dummer property.

At their court appearance last week, McIntyre and Butcher sat on the 
opposite side of the courtroom from Glabais.

Their case is set for a preliminary hearing April 8. McIntyre and 
Butcher, who have separate counsel, wanted to go straight to trial in 
Ontario Court of Justice. Glabais, who is representing himself, 
wanted to be tried in Superior Court of Justice in front of a judge and jury.

Because they chose different courts, a preliminary hearing must be held.

"We'll be dragged around for years," McIntyre said Thursday.

McIntyre says she's a medical marijuana user.

MacDonald and Almud wanted their charges dismissed because they 
argued that marijuana possession laws have been invalid since 2003 
because of the landmark Terry Parker case.

Parker, an epileptic, won the right to smoke pot for medicinal 
purposes in 2000.

Madam Justice Cory A. Gilmore ruled in October that the men had no 
standing to make such an argument in superior court and the "proper 
forum" is at trial in Ontario Court of Justice.

The Parker case "did not have the effect of deleting marijuana" from 
the Controlled Drugs and Substances Act and only "Parliament can 
repeal its own legislation," Gilmore wrote.

Gilmore dismissed their application "with prejudice."

Almud and MacDonald were both charged before Health Canada approved 
them for medical marijuana licences.

Almud pleaded guilty to his charges Sept. 28, the day after the case 
was heard in superior court.

MacDonald's possession of marijuana for the purpose of trafficking 
charge was stayed Wednesday.
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MAP posted-by: Keith Brilhart