Pubdate: Wed, 07 Apr 2010
Source: Courier-Islander (CN BC)
Copyright: 2010 Courier-Islander (Campbell River)
Contact:  http://www.canada.com/vancouverisland/courierislander/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/4074

POT LEGALIZATION CRUSADER RELEASED FROM JAIL

A woman who spent months in jail fighting Canada's pot laws has been
released after being found guilty of growing and trafficking marijuana.

Edith Noreen Evers, founder of the North Island Compassion Club, was
sentenced to time served after spending a total of about five months
in pre-trial custody, some of it in hospital, as her case wound its
way through the court system.

Evers was arrested in the fall of 2006, after Comox Valley RCMP raided
her Black Creek farm and chopped down dozens of marijuana plants that
ranged in height from four to seven feet.

A few of the plants had been grown legally for Bruce Webb, a military
veteran who has a licence from Health Canada to consume marijuana to
deal with the pain associated with neurological damage he suffered in
1999.

But Webb's licence expired 18 hours before the raid. Evers did not
have a licence to grow the other pot plants, although she insists they
were for distribution to patients who require marijuana to deal with
medical issues.

Since then, Evers has been attempting to put arguments before the
court that she says prove that Canada's pot laws are invalid due to
prior court decisions that found them unconstitutional.

In fact, Evers could easily have been released from jail or given a
small fine had she pleaded guilty early in the case -- she admits that
she was producing and selling marijuana -- but she insisted on
attempting to force the courts to deal with her arguments.
- ---
MAP posted-by: Jo-D