Pubdate: Sat, 24 Sep 2005
Source: Victoria Times-Colonist (CN BC)
Copyright: 2005 Times Colonist
Contact:  http://www.canada.com/victoria/timescolonist/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/481
Author: Richard Watts
Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/mmjcn.htm (Cannabis - Medicinal - Canada)

MEDICAL MARIJUANA CHAMPION BEATS TRAFFICKING CHARGE IN COURT

Ted Smith Says He Was Relieved By Decision

Ted Smith, Victoria's high-profile champion for medical marijuana, 
has beaten a trafficking charge on appeal.

Smith said Friday the result is a huge relief for him and the other 
members of the Victoria Cannabis Buyers' Club, a compassion club that 
supplies marijuana to people who can prove they have an incurable 
medical condition.

"We're all very relieved," said the 35-year-old Smith.

On Thursday, Smith received a letter from the federal Department of 
Justice saying it had reviewed his appeal and decided he should be 
granted a new trial.

The Crown, however, has determined it will not proceed and will ask 
the Court of Appeal to enter an acquittal.

A B.C. provincial court judge convicted Smith in June of trafficking 
in cannabis resin and sentenced him to a nine-month conditional discharge.

Evidence during the trial centred around laboratory analysis which 
showed cookies, handed out at the club, contained cannabis resin, an 
illegal substance.

Smith testified Cannabis Club cooks made the cookies by starting with 
marijuana, steeping it in vegetable oil and heating it. That oil, 
after it had cooled and been filtered, was used to make the cookie dough.

Smith said the latest appeal ruling is especially gratifying for the 
club because it means it has now survived, legally unscathed, four 
separate police raids on its Johnson Street store.

Those four raids, all within 2002 and 2003, resulted in 11 charges 
against four people. Not one of those charges resulted in a conviction.

"No other club has sustained itself through so many police raids and 
continued to operate," said Smith.

But he also said the decision of the Crown not to proceed with the 
appeal is almost disappointing. It means he will not be able to 
pursue his Constitutional challenge of the law.

"That law is still on the books and I won't be happy until it's 
gone," said Smith.

Smith, however, was convicted, himself, of trafficking in marijuana 
just a few weeks after the resin conviction. He is appealing that conviction.

That charge arose because Smith was caught passing out joints at a a 
pro-marijuana rally at the University of Victoria on Nov. 8, 2000. 
That conviction saw him fined $500.

Also, next week, Smith is scheduled to reappear on another 
trafficking charge, this one the result of him passing out cookies at 
a rally at the downtown library on Nov. 15, 2000.
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MAP posted-by: Elizabeth Wehrman