Pubdate: Fri, 26 Jul 2002
Source: Chilliwack Progress (CN BC)
Copyright: 2002 The Chilliwack Progress
Contact:  http://www.theprogress.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/562
Author: Robert Freeman

HOLY SMOKE!

A marijuana "compassion club" is opening this weekend just a stone's throw 
away from the new courthouse in downtown Chilliwack.

A grand opening of the Holy Smoke Healing Center at 45965 Princess Ave. is 
planned for Aug. 6 when marijuana activists [name redacted] and Steve Kubby 
will ask the B.C. Supreme Court to order medical exemptions for them.

Mr. [name redacted] says five "patients" have already joined the Chilliwack club 
to obtain medical marijuana to treat ailments ranging from cancer to AIDS 
to glaucoma.

Norm Siefkin, a B.C. Marijuana Party candidate in the last election, says 
he is joining the Chilliwack club, but will also keep his membership in the 
Vancouver compassion club where he has been obtaining medical marijuana.

He says police in Vancouver, and several other communities around the 
province, have been turning a blind eye to the clubs.

"There's a lot of compassion clubs popping up in B.C. ... and the police 
have turned a blind to them," he says.

But Chilliwack RCMP Const. Dave Aucoin says "in no way, shape or form" will 
the Chilliwack detachment allow the club here to break any drug laws.

"We will enforce all statutes relating to drugs," he says. "If we have the 
evidence that there is illegal activities (at the centre) then we will take 
the appropriate action."

Mr. [name redacted], who suffers from glaucoma, says he is asking the court to 
grant him a medical exemption from marijuana laws after failing to obtain 
one from Health Canada.

"I'm done with Health Canada," he says. "They've taken a year off my life, 
making me go over hurdle after hurdle."

Mr. Kubby, a U.S. pot activist now living in Sechelt, is seeking political 
refugee status in Canada in addition to the medical marijuana exemption.
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MAP posted-by: Alex