Pubdate: Wed, 07 May 2003
Source: Vancouver Sun (CN BC)
Contact:  2002 The Vancouver Sun
Website: http://www.canada.com/vancouver/vancouversun/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/477
Author: Neal Hall

PAINED POT ACTIVIST JUST WANTS HIS MILK AND MARIJUANA IN PRISON

B.C. Lawyer Takes Up Convict's Case To Force Ottawa To Provide Some Pain
Relief

Michael Patriquen may be in a jail cell, but he believes he still has the 
right to eat marijuana cookies there to ease the pain of injuries he 
suffered in a car accident four years ago.

While Patriquen is in jail in New Brunswick, his case has been taken up by 
B.C. lawyer John Conroy, who specializes in marijuana law and prison reform.

Conroy filed an application in federal court in Vancouver last week seeking 
to compel federal Health Minister Anne McLellan to provide prison officials 
with an adequate supply of marijuana to provide Patriquen with pain relief.

Patriquen, a 49-year-old pot activist who founded the Nova Scotia Marijuana 
Party, has a Health Canada exemption allowing him to possess marijuana to 
alleviate the pain stemming from injuries received in a motor vehicle 
accident four years ago.

Since September, he has been in the minimum-security Westmorland federal 
prison in New Brunswick, serving a six-year sentence for marijuana 
trafficking and cultivation.

Patriquen claims his constitutional right to obtain his medicinal marijuana 
is being violated by the Correctional Service of Canada, the National 
Parole Board and McLellan.

His legal action states that he should be released from prison if he is not 
provided with medicinal marijuana.

"I am not asking to grow my own cannabis (marijuana) in the institution or 
to smoke it ... only to access it as a medicine through health care in the 
same fashion as other prisoners access methadone or other more significant 
side effect type medications," says Patriquen's affidavit, which was filed 
in federal court in Vancouver by Conroy.

"He just wants to be able to have a marijuana cookie and a glass of milk," 
said Conroy of his client.

Currently, the government does not provide medicinal marijuana to people 
who have exemptions to possess and grow marijuana for treatment of their 
pain and illness.

In March, federal Solicitor- General Wayne Easter, commenting on the 
Patriquen case, said the government is opposed to the use of medicinal 
marijuana in prisons.

"We don't want to go down that route...if you are in prison you're not 
there to smoke marijuana," he said.

Patriquen says in his affidavit, which was obtained by The Vancouver Sun, 
that "due to my deteriorating health condition over the past six months, my 
life has become a nightmare. I am in constant pain 24 hours a day. The only 
variable is the degree of pain I suffer that varies from very bad to 
agonizing."

Patriquen said he suffers from nausea, is getting weak and has lost about 
20 kilograms since he was sent to prison last Sept. 10.

He first received approval for cannabis therapy by Health Canada in August, 
2001. Last July, he received a medical marijuana exemption from the 
government, allowing him to possess up to 150 grams of pot at any time, 
grow up to 25 marijuana plants and store up to 1,125 grams (there are 28 
grams in an ounce).

The legal action also included a number of supporting affidavits, including 
one from Patriquen's family physician, Dr. Susan Lappin of Nova Scotia, who 
is very concerned about her patient's deteriorating condition.

The doctor noted "there was a marked improvement in his condition when he 
was not in custody" because he was able to access marijuana and ease his pain.

Another affidavit was from Steven William Tuck of Vancouver, who says he 
supplied the seeds used to grow pot plants in an abandoned mine in Flin 
Flon, Man., for the federal government.

The affidavit was filed to show a federal court judge that the government 
already has a supply of medicinal marijuana.

On Tuesday, the Supreme Court of Canada heard a constitutional challenge of 
Canada's marijuana law by two B.C. men and a companion case from Ontario. 
The court reserved judgment.

The government has suggested it plans to move ahead with decriminalizing 
the possession of small amounts of marijuana.
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