Source: The Coast Independent (Sunshine Coast, B.C.) Pubdate: Mon, 15 Mar 1999 Contact: (604) 886-4993 Mail: 292 Gower Point Road ,Gibsons, BC V0N 1V0 Author: Darah Hansen Note: Our newshawk and webmaster has set up a website for this WOD victim with more details, including information on her Legal Defense Fund at: http://www.thecompassionclub.org/renee/ WAR ON DRUGS HAS WOMAN IN HIDING An American woman living on the Sunshine Coast says she fears she'll become the next victim in her country's war on drugs if she's forced back south of the border. Twenty-nine-year-old Renee Boje, who is currently keeping a low profile on the Sunshine Coast, is facing deportation to California where she's wanted on several federal charges related to the cultivation of marijuana. But she says she's an innocent pawn caught in a political game between the zero tolerance federal Drug Enforcement Agency and California state where medical pot use is legal, and she's asking for help to mount an expensive legal campaign to win her refugee status in Canada. "I am hoping that Canada will provide me a safe haven, as it did for the conscientious objectors to the Vietnam War," she said in an interview. Troubles began for the soft spoken woman in 1997 when she started work for Todd McCormick, a well-known medical marijuana advocate in California. An artist by trade, Boje said she was hired to do free-lance artwork for a magazine McCormick was putting together to promote his cause. In July of that year she was arrested along with McCormick and seven others at the house in a DEA raid and charged with conspiracy to cultivate marijuana, posession, and intent to distribute. Boje strongly denies all the charges. In October she says her lawyer told her the matters against her had been dropped and she went travelling across Canada, ending up in Roberts Creek last month. There she was again picked up in a pot bust at a house on Leek Road. "I was at the wrong place at the wrong time again," she said. Though she wasn't charged criminally in the Roberts Creek case, police did discover an outstanding warrant against her in California relating to the 1997 charges. She was taken into the custody of Canadian Immigration. She has since been released on a $5000.00 bond and faces an extradition hearing April 19. So far, Boje has received support from friends and sympathizers on the Sunshine Coast. The case has also been taken up by the B.C. Compassion Club Society, a non-profit Vancouver group that supports the leglization of marijuana for medicinal purposes. Club founder Hilary Black called Boje a "handy pawn" in the U.S. federal government's bid to bust the likes of Todd McCormick, whom they see as a kind of drug lord. "It's because they're quite keen on Todd, that's why they want her so badly," Black said. The Compassion Club has provided Boje with two lawyers - one to deal with her criminal matters, a second for immigration. And, they are planning some fundraising events to cover the legal costs. - --- MAP posted-by: Mike Gogulski