Pubdate: Tue, 14 May 2002 Source: Calgary Herald (CN AB) Copyright: 2002 Calgary Herald Contact: http://www.canada.com/calgary/calgaryherald/ Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/66 Forum: http://forums.canada.com/~calgary Author: Jason van Rassel POT FARMER CLAIMS CROP MEANT FOR USE BY TERMINALLY ILL Activist Says Police Should 'Leave Sick Alone' Seven hundred pot plants seized by the RCMP were meant to help terminally ill patients, claims the man charged in connection with the operation. Randy Newsham, 35, was charged with cultivation of a controlled substance and possession for the purpose of trafficking after Mounties found the plants in his home near Rumsey, about 130 kilometres northeast of Calgary. The RCMP estimated the crop's value at $500,000, but Newsham said the pot was never going to be sold on the street and was worth far less. "They've blown it way out of proportion," Newsham said from the Calgary Remand Centre, where he's been held on $10,000 bail since his May 2 arrest. Newsham doesn't deny growing the pot, but said it was intended for a non-profit foundation run by Calgary medicinal marijuana activist Grant Krieger. Krieger, who suffers from multiple sclerosis and won a five-year legal battle to smoke marijuana, said he supplies more than 100 people across Canada with the drug. Regulations passed by Health Canada last year allow applicants to possess or grow their own marijuana if they can prove their pain can't be treated with other drugs. The problem, Krieger said, is many sufferers like him are too sick to grow their own supply and the regulations drive people into the risky business of buying "crap" from street-level dealers. Krieger said he is trying to assure a safe supply exists for terminally ill patients, but the police shut down every person he's hired to grow pot for him. "Let me help people," he said. "I wish they'd just stop and leave the sick alone." Krieger said most of the plants seized by police were still seedlings and worth about $10,000 -- a fraction of the value the RCMP placed on them. Still, there were three kilograms of dried marijuana ready for distribution and the police confiscated about $20,000 worth of growing equipment, Krieger said. "It hurts," he said of the bust. "It takes a lot of time to set (grow operations) up and a lot of money." Health Canada had contracted a private company to grow 600 kilograms of marijuana to be used in clinical trials, but federal officials announced last week the supply is riddled with impurities. "The government doesn't know what it's doing," Krieger said. "They've hung us all out to dry." Meanwhile, Newsham remains in custody while Krieger and supporters are trying to raise bail money. Police also charged Newsham's roommate, John Daniel MacVicar, in connection with the bust. He is free on $750 bail. - --- MAP posted-by: Josh