HTTP/1.0 200 OK Content-Type: text/html Marijuana Advocate Loses Case, Hit With Fine 
Pubdate: Thu, 30 Mar 2006
Source: Ottawa Citizen (CN ON)
Copyright: 2006 The Ottawa Citizen
Contact:  http://www.canada.com/ottawa/ottawacitizen/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/326
Author: Tony Lofaro, The Ottawa Citizen
Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/people/John+Turmel

MARIJUANA ADVOCATE LOSES CASE, HIT WITH FINE

Turmel Is Independent Candidate in Today's Nepean-Carleton
Vote

John Turmel fought Canada's marijuana law in court yesterday, and the
law won.

Mr. Turmel, a professional gambler and a medicinal marijuana advocate,
was fined $1,000, given three years probation and told to perform 100
hours of community service after he was found guilty of a 2003 offence
of possessing marijuana for the purpose of trafficking.

The independent candidate in today's Nepean-Carleton byelection said
he plans to appeal Ontario Court Justice Paul Belanger's decision. He
said the reason he went to Parliament Hill to deliver three kilograms
of marijuana to former prime minister Jean Chretien in 2003 was to
make a political statement about the need to decriminalize the
country's marijuana laws.

But yesterday, the flamboyant poker player and perennial political
candidate was just happy he wasn't headed to jail. "If I lose (the
appeal), I'll have to pay, but I didn't want to go to jail, that's
what worried me," the 55-year-old said after being found guilty of the
charge.

Mr. Turmel, who lives in Brantford, Ont., across the street from a
casino where he plays poker, said the judge believed his motive in
2003 was just to make a political statement about Canada's marijuana
laws. "I just wanted to prove that the possession law was still dead
and I was proven right. They dropped the (possession) charges against
4,000 people, so I stopped the courts from enforcing an invalid law,"
he said.

Federal Crown attorney Allyson Ratsoy said Mr. Turmel's case took
nearly three years to come to trial because he brought a series of
motions through the courts challenging the constitutionally of the
marijuana laws. "I'd call him an activist, not a nuisance. He has
every right to voice his protests, but just not in the manner that he
did." 
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