Pubdate: Fri, 28 Sep 2012
Source: Peterborough This Week (CN ON)
Copyright: Metroland Printing, Publishing and Distributing
Contact: http://www.mykawartha.com/generalform
Website: http://www.mykawartha.com/community/peterborough
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/1794
Author: Todd Vandonk

MEDICINAL MARIJUANA USERS SPEAK OUT FOLLOWING MONDAY RAID

They say it's unfair that police would remove marijuana plants from 
their property they were legally allowed to grow; OPP say they were 
growing more than their licences allowed

(KEENE) - Vicki Fleming says her friends have been charged with the 
production of marijuana because they were trying to help her.

On Monday (Sept. 24) executed controlled drugs and substances act 
warrants at two residences in the Keene area and charged three 
holders of medical marijuana licences for growing marijuana well in 
the excess of their licence allotment. Ms Fleming, a licensed medical 
marijuana herself, says a number of the 351 plants seized by police were hers.

"Nobody out here is a joke. Nobody is a dealer," she explains.

"We're all extremely ill and we were just trying to take care of each other."

Ms Fleming says she moved her marijuana to the farm of Gerard Faux, 
who is now charged, because she hasn't been able to grow for four 
months, because she was robbed twice, including a contractor that 
stole her growing equipment.

"What I was trying to grow was getting moldy because the lack of 
ventilation," she explains.

Ms Fleming notes she didn't apply to Health Canada to change her 
address so she could legally grow on Mr. Faux's property, but did 
leave a paper trail by writing a letter to Mr Faux, stating how many 
plants she was moving.

"In my opinion, everything that was here was legitimate, just not 
necessarily constitutionally allowed the way that we had done it, but 
everything here is legitimate," she explains.

"You do what you do to have stay alive. We're supposed to be able to 
do whatever we need to do to be healthy."

As far as she is concerned, the bust was criminal harassment of medical users.

"They know we're legal and they know we're sick," she says.

"The police hate us cannabis users that they will go out of the way 
to do anything to hurt us."

Mr. Faux says he has a licence to grow outdoors on his farm along 
with two other men while his wife Tracy Miller, who was also charged 
with production of marijuana on Monday, has a licence to grow indoors 
at their home.

"She was in such a pickle," Mr. Faux says to as to why he allowed Ms 
Fleming to relocate her pot onto her property.

He says he saw a helicopter hovering over his property on Thursday 
for about five minutes and called the police the next day to inform 
them that he is a licenced grower. He thought they everything was 
fine until police showed around noon on Monday with the warrants. Ms 
Fleming says police left a quantity off plants that Mr. Faux and Mrs. 
Miller are allowed to legally own, but the plants have literally no 
buds on them, leaving them without their medical marijuana.

"They left us plants that were three feet high with literally nothing 
on them at all and took the 12 footers," she explains.

"We have nothing at all."
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