Pubdate: Tuesday, November 2, 1999 Source: Toronto Star (CN ON) Copyright: 1999, The Toronto Star Contact: http://www.thestar.com/ Page: A7 Author: Steve Mertl, Canadian Press MARIJUANA TUG-OF-WAR U.s., Canadian And California Laws Collide VANCOUVER - An American woman's fight against extradition to the United States to face drug-conspiracy charges is highlighting the two countries' differing attitudes toward medical marijuana use. Renee Boje has requested refugee status in Canada, claiming she's a political pawn in the U.S. government's war on drugs. The U.S. justice department is seeking Boje's extradition to Los Angeles to face charges of conspiracy to manufacture and possession of marijuana for the purposes of distribution. Boje, 30, was arrested in 1997 outside the Bel Air, Calif., mansion of Todd McCormick, where police said she and another woman were seen watering and moving some of the 4,000 pot plants being cultivated there. Boje, a New York artist who says she was hired by McCormick to do illustrations for a book, has not admitted handling the plants. Still, her supporters say McCormick was entitled to grow marijuana under a California law allowing pot possession and cultivation for so-called compassionate uses. McCormick, who has cancer, had two doctors' prescriptions for medical pot, said Maury Mason, a spokesperson for Boje's legal defence fund. The plants were ostensibly for research into breeding the best strains for medical use. However, the U.S. government is ignoring the California law and going after people growing pot for medical purposes, said John Conroy, Boje's Canadian lawyer. While medical marijuana is still illegal in Canada, federal Health Minister Allan Rock has issued several ministerial permits to grow it and his department is studying its use. Boje, who lives in the coastal town of Gibson's, near Vancouver, made a court appearance yesterday dressed in a peasant skirt and wearing sparkling makeup. She said she came to Canada on the advice of her American lawyer after charges against her were initially dropped. They were reinstated after she got here. "He advised me to leave the country because he didn't feel that he could save me and I faced a mandatory minimum of 10 years to life," she said. Boje was arrested in Canada last February when RCMP busted a medical-marijuana growth operation at a house where she was staying in Sechelt, B.C. The arrest came to the attention of U.S. authorities, who filed for her extradition. Boje said she believes that the U.S. district attorney wants her back in order to force her to testify against McCormick in a trial that's scheduled to start Nov. 16. "I would never cut a deal with the DA but people that do cut deals with the DA, they don't even get off," she said. "They have to spend lots of time in prison." Conroy said the case has become a cause celebre in California, where McCormick is getting backing from supporters of medical marijuana, including actor Woody Harrelson. The legal wrangling could be lengthy. The judge's ruling is subject to court appeal and also to a review by Justice Minister Anne McLellan. - --- MAP posted-by: Keith Brilhart