Controversial marijuana crusader Grant Krieger has won the right to appeal a trafficking conviction to the Supreme Court of Canada. Krieger, who suffers from multiple sclerosis and uses marijuana to ease his symptoms, is waiting to learn when his case will be heard and expects it will be sometime next year. The 50-year-old Calgarian is challenging his 2003 conviction for possession of marijuana for the purpose of trafficking which came after he was caught with 29 pot plants. "Maybe this will be the start of the change," he said Monday. "This is going help sick people out there, that's the only reason I'm (in court). The laws have to change to help the sick and not the recreational smokers." [continues 188 words]
Marijuana has been garnering a lot of negative media attention in Calgary recently due to the burgeoning numbers of grow-ops police are busting and concern over organized crime involvement in the industry. City of Calgary aldermen and the police have been speaking out about potential safety issues related to grow-ops, including black mould and fire hazards due to growers illegally tapping into power lines. There's now a steering committee, comprised of various City of Calgary organizations, devoted to trying to crack down on the grow-ops that are popping up all over the city. [continues 659 words]
Calgary pot crusader Grant Krieger, challenging his conviction for possession of marijuana for the purpose of trafficking, is taking the case to the Supreme Court of Canada. Krieger, 50, who suffers from multiple sclerosis and uses cannabis butter to ease the pain, lost a 2-1 split decision Monday in the Alberta Court of Appeal. He had been convicted in December 2003 for possessing 29 pot plants. Justices Jean Cote and Ellen Picard upheld the conviction because they felt even though Queen's Bench Justice Paul Chrumka erred in ordering the jury to convict, they agreed with Crown prosecutor Jolaine Antonio that a new trial on that evidence would result in the same verdict. [continues 136 words]
Contradictions Abound In World Of Substance Abuse Some have lost homes and families to their addictions. Others have been stripped of their careers and control of their lives, some their freedom for unlawfully chasing another inhaled or injected fix. To kick the habit, users have been known to seek treatment, delivered under rigid regimens. Lives have been lost in despair. The legacy of a street drug, peddled on some dark corner? Actually, it's the injected or nasally inhaled Stadol, a synthetic opiate produced by pharmaceutical giant Bristol-Myers Squibb for the treatment of migraines. [continues 615 words]
Medicinal marijuana advocate Grant Krieger is scheduled to appear in provincial court next week on two trafficking charges. The Calgary man appeared in court briefly Wednesday and had the matter put over until next Wednesday. Krieger was charged after police intercepted two packages containing marijuana that were sent via courier from Calgary to the Grant Krieger Foundation in Selkirk, northeast of Winnipeg. The packages were allegedly sent in December 2003 and January 2004. Krieger previously estimated one of them contained about $3,000 worth of marijuana. Krieger, 49, has multiple sclerosis and uses cannabis to manage his pain. [end]
Police have charged medicinal marijuana advocate Grant Krieger with two counts of trafficking after intercepting pot destined for Manitoba. Police laid the charges after two packages containing marijuana were sent via courier from Calgary to the Grant Krieger Foundation in Selkirk, northeast of Winnipeg. The packages were allegedly sent in December 2003 and January 2004, and Krieger estimated one of them contained about $3,000 worth of marijuana. Krieger, 49, has multiple sclerosis and uses cannabis butter to manage his pain. Krieger said people like him who provide a safe, reliable supply are still subject to prosecution. He is to appear in court July 21. [end]
Medicinal marijuana advocate Grant Krieger will meet with city police today to discuss a package intercepted before reaching its destination. Krieger says he suspects the package police wish to speak to him about contains approximately $3,000 in marijuana. It was mailed via United Parcel Services to a client in Winnipeg last December, and is one of two packages he lost in the space of a month. The Calgary man, who has multiple sclerosis, expects today's meeting will result in charges and a stay at the Calgary Remand Centre. "I don't relish the possibility of jail time but the laws need to change," he said. "This issue has to change for the sick." [end]
They skipped out of work and school early, stocked up on Doritos, Starburst, pizza, chocolate and rolling papers and gathered in small clusters at city parks, toking and talking pot. Tuesday, or 4:20 for those "cool" enough to know, marked a celebration day of sorts for pot smokers. "It's a freedom day, that's what it is," said Calgary's marijuana advocate, Grant Krieger, who, coincidentally, was en route to the Winnipeg provincial court house to contest a January pot trafficking charge. And, as fate would have it, Krieger's hearing was set for Courtroom 420. [continues 441 words]
Medicinal marijuana advocate Grant Krieger's troubles with the law became a family affair with the arrest of his wife and son Wednesday. Mounties in Saskatchewan arrested Marie and Ryan Krieger following a traffic stop on the Trans-Canada Highway east of Swift Current. Grant Krieger said the two were on their way to Regina and Saskatoon, where they were going to deliver about $5,400 worth of marijuana bud and oil to chronically-ill patients. They were pulled over because their Chevrolet Caprice's rear licence plate, which flips down when the gas tank is being filled, wasn't flipped back up after a fuel stop. [continues 152 words]
Grant Krieger said another bid by his family to deliver therapeutic cannabis has gone up in smoke after his wife and son were busted by Mounties in Saskatchewan yesterday. Krieger said his wife Marie and son Ryan, 21, were pulled over on the Trans-Canada Hwy. near the town of Morse, 60 km east of Swift Current, when Mounties noticed their licence plate wasn't properly visible. They were on their way to Regina and Saskatoon to deliver just under 3 kg of medicinal marijuana to sufferers of chronic illnesses when an RCMP officer smelled marijuana in their car, he said. [continues 70 words]
Marijuana advocate Grant Krieger will appear in a Winnipeg courtroom Friday on a drug trafficking charge. The case stems from an incident in January when RCMP stopped Krieger's van near Headingly, Man., and seized a pound of weed worth about $3,000. Krieger was delivering the pot to chronically ill patients. The 49-year-old Calgarian is a longtime multiple sclerosis sufferer and uses cannabis butter to manage his pain. [end]
Re: "Krieger faces fresh pot charge," Jan. 9. The Supreme Court of Canada ruled no rights are violated by the marijuana laws. Grant Krieger was arrested and deprived of his liberty again and this does not violate Section 7 of your Charter of Rights and Freedoms? Krieger's property was seized again and this does not violate Section 8, protection from unreasonable seizure? These arguments were not presented to the Supreme Court. Once they are, can the government demonstrably justify why marijuana is illegal? It appears to me there is a conspiracy to keep these arguments out of court or suppress them from being raised, here in the United States as well as Canada. Michael J. Dee Windham, Maine [end]
WINNIPEG (CP) - Medical marijuana crusader Grant Krieger says his efforts to help the sick and dying were dealt a serious blow this week after he was arrested by Manitoba RCMP. Krieger, 49, was pulled over Tuesday night near Headingly, Man. Police seized all but a few grams of his pot and charged him with possession. ''It was a very costly run-in with the RCMP,'' he said Thursday. ''Now I have to replace my stock and find a lawyer.'' Krieger said the police should return his marijuana to him. [continues 225 words]
WINNIPEG -- Calgary-based medicinal pot crusader Grant Krieger faces possession charges after being busted by Headingley Mounties on Tuesday. Krieger, 49, said he was pulled over by RCMP, who seized roughly $7,500 worth of marijuana and cash from his vehicle. Krieger, an MS sufferer who has smoked marijuana for medicinal purposes since 1994, said the pot was for himself and a Selkirk resident stricken with cancer. Both are legally allowed to grow weed and smoke it for medicinal purposes, Krieger said yesterday. "What the police and the government is doing is ridiculous," he said. "They don't have a clue about what they're doing -- they don't realize that there are sick people they're not helping who need this. "It's discriminatory." [end]
A well-known medicinal marijuana crusader has defied the law yet again and opened a cannabis distribution centre in Regina. Grant Krieger, a former longtime Saskatchewan resident with a history of arrests and convictions over his marijuana use, opened a branch of the Krieger Foundation -- which supplies marijuana to people with proven medical conditions -- in August. The Supreme Court of Canada ruled on Dec. 23, 2003 that Krieger, who suffers from progressive multiple sclerosis (MS), is legally entitled to produce and consume marijuana for himself, but cannot distribute it to others. [continues 190 words]
A Regina man with severe multiple sclerosis (MS) is proclaiming the benefits of a new centre operating outside the law that provides medicinal marijuana for people with proven medical conditions. Thirty-seven-year-old Clarence, who did not want his last name used, has been using the services of the Krieger Foundation for about five months and says it's a safer, more affordable way to access medicinal marijuana. Clarence was diagnosed with MS at the age of 23 and was declared a paraplegic, confined to a wheelchair, shortly after. He started smoking pot a few years later and has been wheelchair-free for more than 10 years. [continues 347 words]
Seize Cash, Grass A Calgary-based medicinal pot crusader faces possession charges after being busted by Headingley Mounties on Tuesday. Grant Krieger, 49, said he was pulled over Tuesday night by RCMP, who seized roughly $7,500 worth of marijuana and cash from his vehicle. Krieger, an MS sufferer who has smoked marijuana for medicinal purposes since 1994, said the pot was for himself and a Selkirk resident stricken with cancer. Both are legally allowed to grow weed and smoke it for medicinal purposes, Krieger said yesterday. [continues 278 words]
As the legal woes mount for medicinal marijuana advocate Grant Krieger, supporters are praising his "heroic" efforts while critics say good intentions don't exempt him from the law. Krieger, who is appealing a trafficking conviction here last month, is facing a new legal battle after being stopped by police Wednesday night outside Winnipeg. Officers pulled over a vehicle near Headingley and seized a pound of pot, said Sgt. Steve Saunders, spokesman for the RCMP in Manitoba. A trafficking charge is pending. [continues 318 words]
REGINA -- A well-known medicinal marijuana crusader has defied the law yet again and opened a cannabis distribution centre in Regina. Grant Krieger, a former longtime Saskatchewan resident with a history of arrests and convictions over his marijuana use, opened a branch of the Krieger Foundation -- which supplies marijuana to people with proven medical conditions -- in August. The Supreme Court of Canada ruled Dec. 23, 2003 that Krieger, who suffers from progressive multiple sclerosis (MS), is legally entitled to produce and consume marijuana for himself, but cannot distribute it to others. [continues 302 words]
WINNIPEG -- A Calgary-based medicinal pot crusader faces possession charges after being busted by Headingley Mounties on Tuesday. Grant Krieger, 49, said he was pulled over Tuesday night by RCMP, who seized roughly $7,500 worth of marijuana and cash from his vehicle. Krieger, an MS sufferer who has smoked marijuana for medicinal purposes since 1994, said the pot was for himself and a Selkirk resident stricken with cancer. Both are legally allowed to grow weed and smoke it for medicinal purposes, Krieger said yesterday. [continues 139 words]
