Pubdate: Tue, 05 Jul 2011 Source: Standard, The (St. Catharines, CN ON) Copyright: 2011 Sun Media Contact: http://www.stcatharinesstandard.ca/feedback1/LetterToEditor.aspx Website: http://www.stcatharinesstandard.ca/ Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/676 Author: Jeff Bolichowski POT USER EVICTED FROM COURTHOUSE STEPS A St. Catharines woman evicted in a dispute over medical marijuana has been told by police to move her courthouse vigil -- and her makeshift home -- elsewhere. Kelly Kirby, a medical cannabis user who was locked out of her apartment by the city after police found plants growing inside, has spent most of the past week living outside the Robert SK Welch Courthouse in protest. Monday, though, she and a group of supporters planned to move to Montebello Park after police asked her to leave. Niagara Regional Police on the scene Monday said regular visitors to the courthouse were growing uneasy with Kirby's vigil and they'd been asked by the Ontario Attorney General's office to move her. Her belongings had been piled in a shaded area by the courthouse's entrance, with a bench made up as a bed, surrounded by protest signs decrying her lockout. "They threw her out on the street," supporter Mike Thomas of the group Dads for Marijuana said. "Now they're throwing her even further out on the street, if that's possible." The fight has drawn the attention of medical cannabis supporters online, said St. Catharines native Matt Mernagh, who was at the centre of the court case that saw Canada's medical marijuana program declared unconstitutional. He said some form of rally to support Kirby could be coming soon. Kirby, who is in her 40s, was locked out last week along with her son and fellow resident Terry Tout, who has terminal cancer. She spent about a week camping out at the courthouse before being asked to move. It's taken a toll, Thomas said. He said Kirby hadn't slept in three days as of Monday morning. "I see a woman that's under severe mental duress," he said. "I see a family that's been torn apart over a legal prescription medication. "She's in a lot of pain. A lot of pain." Kirby showed a Standard reporter a medical marijuana licence last week with an expiration date of August 2011. She said she didn't have a grower's licence, but claimed her doctor told her to grow her own. NRP Sgt. Todd Anderson said the Attorney General's office asked that Kirby be given the boot, though he said she and her supporters had been well-behaved. "She was afforded the opportunity to be here, to get out here message," he said. But "other people that have a lawful right to use the building are starting to feel uncomfortable." He said staying at the park should pose little problem so long as the protesters stick to the rules. Mernagh, who had charges of marijuana production and possession against him thrown out in a landmark ruling in April, said discomfort is the whole point. "The idea is to make the people uncomfortable because they made (her) uncomfortable when they evicted (her)," he said. Now living in Toronto, Mernagh said he's followed Kirby's situation online. So are many others, he said, adding that he expected action. "I see, sooner than later, something happening in front of the courthouse," he said, though nothing had been set up yet. He said small cannabis-growing setups in home bedrooms aren't really a problem, though large-scale commercial ones would be. Tout, who said his health keeps him from joining the overnight vigil, chafed at Kirby's eviction. He said she wasn't causing trouble and had kept the area clean. "We're still here in the street and treated like we're not worth (crap)," he said. "I can't sleep at night because I'm worried about her." He stressed that there's a difference between using cannabis medicinally and smoking it recreationally. The vigil, he said, is for the former. "I think doing it to get high is stupid," he said. "People coming around just to get high in this environment defeats what we're trying to do." Mernagh couched the vigil as a potential win for medical marijuana. "I think what she is doing is, she's out there fighting and people are watching online," he said. "Any time they're paying attention, you're winning." - --- MAP posted-by: Richard R Smith Jr.