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. - --- MAP posted-by: Alex