Pubdate: Sat, 11 Aug 2012
Source: Sudbury Star (CN ON)
Copyright: 2012 Osprey Media
Contact: http://www.thesudburystar.com/feedback1/LetterToEditor.aspx
Website: http://www.thesudburystar.com
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/608
Author: Carol Mulligan

TOKER TAKEN DOWN BY POLICE

Greater Sudbury Police officers are investigating whether a man who
lit a joint of marijuana outside the Sudbury Courthouse on Friday
morning has a legal exemption to use cannabis for medical reasons.

It is also reviewing allegations about how the man was treated by
police when they responded to the incident.

Officers arrested Jamy McKenzie, 27, during a break in a sentencing
hearing for Dave Sylvestre, 54, who was pleading guilty to producing
almost $100,000 worth of cannabis and cannabis oil.

McKenzie and about 35 others attended the hearing to support
Sylvestre's position that he was growing - and using - the illegal
substance to treat uncontrolled diabetes at the time police seized the
cannabis and oil from his St. Charles home.

Justice Robbie Gordon adjourned the hearing while he considered
pre-sentencing submissions from Sylvestre's lawyer, Denis Michel, and
Crown prosecutor Denys Bradley before sentencing Sylvestre.

During that break, Sylvestre and his supporters assembled on the lawn
and sidewalk in front of the courthouse to wait for the hearing to
resume.

McKenzie said he lit a joint to ease the symptoms of several medical
conditions including metabolic myopathy, liver failure and cystic
fibrosis. McKenzie said he recently underwent a liver transplant.

Police apprehended him, pushed him into a wall of the courthouse and
pinned him down, said a shaken McKenzie about half an hour after the
incident.

Because of the size of the crowd in front of the courthouse, several
officers in at least half a dozen police cruisers were dispatched to
deal with the incident, said Insp. Rob Thirkill.

Sue Johnson said was with McKenzie when police pinned him on the
ground, saying they were "all over him and I asked them to let him go
so he could spasm."

McKenzie said he was spasming because he needed his "medicine" -
marijuana.

McKenzie said he has an exemption from Health Canada to consume 35
grams of marijuana a day for medical purposes, but he said didn't have
proof of that with him when he was seen lighting up by police. He said
he smokes about one joint an hour.

Thirkill said police would be checking with Health Canada to see if
McKenzie has an exemption.

"At this point, there's no indication he does," Thirkill said Friday
afternoon.

Police called paramedics who loaded McKenzie into an ambulance to
attend to him, but he refused to go to hospital.

Sylvestre was outside and witnessed the incident, and said he was in
tears because of it. Two women attending the sentencing hearing cried
on each other's shoulders after McKenzie was released by paramedics.

Johnson called the near arrest "disgusting, it appals me and I just
can't believe it. I really can't. The fact that this man is so sick
and it's so obvious."

Thirkill said police are investigating the allegations in a Sudbury
Star story about the incident posted online Friday morning, and doing
a review of them.
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