Campaign Has Led To Altered Laws Grant Krieger's longtime crusade to supply medicinal marijuana for himself and others who suffer from debilitating illnesses may be over. He says he's tired of fighting. But the Calgary man's legacy from 13 bumpy years of constitutional sparring has paved a path of change, a Manitoba judge said this week in suspending his sentence for possession for the purpose of trafficking. Manitoba Court of Queen's Bench Justice Shawn Greenberg outlined in her written decision a chronology of changes in the law that have resulted since Krieger's fight began to use marijuana to alleviate pain caused by multiple sclerosis. [continues 606 words]
A Manitoba judge has cut a major break to a medical marijuana crusader found guilty of trafficking pot across Canada. Grant Krieger received a suspended sentence with nine months of probation Monday -- a far cry from the jail sentence he feared he might receive and predicted would kill him. "Mr. Krieger is not like most of the drug offenders we sentence in this court," said Queen's Bench Justice Shawn Greenberg. "While Mr. Krieger's actions were illegal, many, perhaps most, would say they are not immoral. Indeed he has no real victims." [continues 272 words]
No Real Victims, Judge Tells Court A Manitoba judge has cut a break to a medical marijuana crusader found guilty of trafficking pot to numerous clients across Canada. Grant Krieger received a suspended sentence with nine months of probation Monday -- a far cry from the jail sentence he feared he might receive and predicted would kill him. "Mr. Krieger is not like most of the drug offenders we sentence in this court," Queen's Bench Justice Shawn Greenberg said. "While Mr. Krieger's actions were illegal, many, perhaps most, would say they are not immoral. Indeed he has no real victims." [continues 470 words]
Re: "Justice gone to pot," Editorial, April 5. It is great to see that Grant Krieger has finally been taken off the streets for good. He is a dangerous criminal who has now said that he is a broken man and will turn his life around and become a law-abiding citizen. Another success story for the legal system. Now the police and courts can turn their attention to other cases and pursue them with the same resources and zeal which they used to pursue Krieger. Perhaps they may even be able to close the files on those pesky drive-by shootings. Lindsay Johnson, Calgary [end]
Manitoba justice officials are not seeking a jail sentence against a medical marijuana crusader found guilty of trafficking pot to several clients across Canada. Grant Krieger feared he would die behind bars after jurors found him guilty during his high-profile Queen's Bench trial last fall. But the Calgary resident returned to Winnipeg for sentencing Wednesday and learned the Crown agrees he can remain free in the community under a conditional sentence. The judge has reserved her decision until next month. [continues 365 words]
Manitoba justice officials are not seeking a jail sentence against a medical-marijuana crusader found guilty of trafficking pot to clients across Canada. Grant Krieger said he feared he would die behind bars after jurors found him guilty during his high-profile Queen's Bench trial last fall. But the Calgary resident returned to Winnipeg for sentencing Wednesday, and learned the Crown agrees he can remain free in the community under a conditional sentence. The judge has reserved her decision until next month. [continues 109 words]
Re: "Justice gone to pot," Editorial, April 5. The justice system should be ashamed to have destroyed a good man's life and forced dozens of sick and dying people to return to the streets to buy pot where they risk arrest--or far worse at the hands of criminals. Grant Krieger has been harassed and targeted by the authorities for the terrible crime of alleviating suffering and challenging the laws regarding medical use of marijuana. A hero is someone who goes into a burning building because he is willing to sacrifice his own well-being for the sake of others. Krieger is a hero who has been on fire a few times, but he kept going back into the flames. Now he is broke, a result of the choking legal costs, and has decided to give up the fight. [continues 76 words]
'Flawed' System Leaves Krieger Hermit With Dogs As expected of someone who indulges in the medicinal use of marijuana, Grant Krieger is a gentle soul. His dogs, not so much. Upon arrival at Krieger's house, visitors are greeted by a pack of six barking hounds. One, a half-wolf named Shifty, stays in the background, swaying back and forth. Before long, the dogs settle. They surround the visitor, seeking pats on the head, shakes of outstretched paws and an irresistible scratch behind the ear. All, that is, but the wary Shifty, who dares to enter the room only after nearly an hour and remains aloof. [continues 1214 words]
How very sad it is to see Grant Krieger, whose sole motivation was compassion for suffering people, give up the fight. And how utterly appalling that it was the justice system that mercilessly hounded Krieger into quitting. Tired of fighting and deeply in debt, the medical marijuana activist formally agreed last week never to grow or distribute marijuana again. The agreement came after 13 years of court battles on trafficking charges, one of which landed in the Supreme Court, which found that a lower court judge had wrongly instructed a jury to find Krieger guilty and thus ordered a retrial. [continues 341 words]
Re: "Medicinal fight over pot ends," (April 1). Congratulations to Alberta's Court of Appeal for finally breaking the will of a sick, dying, and ferociously brave man and preventing him from helping other sick people. I am sure you are all very proud of yourselves. Russell Barth (Grant Krieger's fight shone a light on the holes in the medical marijuana laws.) [end]
A longtime advocate for the use of medical marijuana has agreed to give up a fight that has seen him battle the justice system to the Supreme Court. Grant Krieger, who has for years vocally defended his right to provide marijuana to the sick, signed a legal document yesterday pledging to stop growing or distributing it. "I've hit the end of all my ropes and I'm just tired of it now," he said in Calgary. Krieger uses marijuana to treat symptoms of progressive multiple sclerosis. At one time, he also supplied more than 400 sick people with the drug through a compassion club. As a result of Krieger's promise, Alberta's Court of Appeal has swapped a four-month jail sentence for 18 months of probation in a 2007 trafficking conviction. [continues 109 words]
Appeal Court Suspends Jail Sentence Grant Krieger says his medical marijuana activist days are over after 13 years of legal wrangling. The Alberta Court of Appeal seems to believe him, as it overturned the Calgary man's four-month jail sentence for trafficking, suspended his sentence and placed him on probation for 18 months. The ruling was released Tuesday. "I'm tired of being a police target," said Krieger, 54, who uses the drug to alleviate symptoms of multiple sclerosis. "I can still use marijuana, but police always take it away from me. I've got a court exemption to cultivate it, but it's no good because the insurance companies stepped in and won't let me grow it. I have to go to the black market now, and the last quarter-pound cost me $800." [continues 544 words]
Peace, hope, love, goodwill, light in the darkness-they're what every winter solstice holiday has ever been about, but also sadly sometimes as elusive as a hungry child's faith in Santa. Elusive because the world can be harsh, and because we too often don't register the dissonance inherent in riding to elaborate diamond-studded holiday celebrations in plush chariots to celebrate giving and goodwill while taking from those with less so we can have more. It's an age-old thing, the dark quicksand that power becomes, and it has mostly determined who eats well and who doesn't, and which freedoms and rights and medicines we have access to and which we don't. But hope and light and goodwill are age-old, buoyant and resistant too, and so we kiss under the mistletoe that is now a plastic relic of what was once a valued medicine. North American mistletoe and mistletoe berries are poisonous, but the leaves of other varieties have historically been used to ease anxiety and headache, and to promote sleep and stimulate the immune system-uses which science supports; in Europe mistletoe extract injections are used as a cancer treatment. [continues 507 words]
My heart goes out to medical cannabis crusader Grant Krieger, of Calgary, in his noble quest to supply the ill with an ancient and honourable medicine ("Drug trafficking charges appeal up in smoke, The Journal, Nov. 6). The prohibitionists in our midst ought to be ashamed of themselves that they would stand idly by and let the ill suffer in the name of the therapeutic state. Grant Krieger ought not to have to be a medicinal serf at the mercy of the doctors who are proving to be just as ugly as the priests were when they were in charge of medicine. Holy water was the only medicine approved by the church when witches were being burned for curing people with their knowledge of healing plants. Grant Krieger deserves the Order of Canada for his heroic efforts against all odds to take on the establishment. Chris Buors Winnipeg [end]
My heart goes out to medical cannabis crusader Grant Krieger in his noble quest to supply the ill with an ancient and honourable medicine. ("Court denies activist's pot appeal," Nov. 6.) The prohibitionists in our midst ought to be ashamed of themselves that they would stand idly by and let the ill suffer in the name of the therapeutic state. Canadians need to repeal prohibition in order to let good people like Krieger use whatever they please to make themselves feel better after being struck with an illness that mainstream medicine can do little for. He deserves the Order of Canada for his heroic efforts against all odds to take on the establishment. Chris Buors (If Henry Morgentaler can get it, anything's possible.) [end]
CALGARY (CNS) -A medical marijuana activist has lost his bid to have drug-trafficking charges against him stayed in Alberta -- his second judicial setback in less than a week. Grant Krieger was looking for a constitutional exemption on Wednesday from his marijuana trafficking conviction, arguing his actions were protected under the Charter of Rights and Freedoms. The Alberta Court of Appeal rejected Mr. Krieger's bid. The multiple sclerosis sufferer has admitted he sent two packages of marijuana to Manitoba in 2003 and 2004, but has argued he was supplying it to sick people for medicinal purposes. At Mr. Krieger's 2006 trial, it was argued it was too difficult for some ill people to get permission to use the drug under Marijuana Medical Access Regulations, with doctors being reluctant to sign off on the treatment due to insurance concerns. [end]
CALGARY (CP) -- Alberta's top court has ruled against medical marijuana crusader Grant Krieger. The Albert Court of Appeal says Krieger can't "piggy back" on the charter rights of sick people to have access to medicinal pot. The three-judge panel rejected submissions by defence lawyer John Hooker that Krieger should be given a constitutional exemption to Canada's trafficking laws. Hooker argued patients to whom Krieger supplied marijuana were entitled to get it, but the government hadn't created a suitable scheme for them to obtain it. [continues 128 words]
The Alberta Court of Appeal has rejected the bid of a Calgary marijuana activist seeking to have his drug trafficking charges stayed. Grant Krieger was looking for a constitutional exemption Wednesday from his marijuana trafficking conviction, arguing his actions were protected under the Charter of Rights and Freedoms. Krieger has admitted he sent two packages of marijuana to Manitoba in 2003 and 2004, but has argued he was supplying it to sick people for medical purposes. At Krieger's 2006 trial, it was argued it was too difficult for some ill people to obtain an exemption to use the drug under the Marijuana Medical Access Regulations -- doctors were reluctant to sign-off on the treatment due to insurance concerns. [continues 181 words]
CALGARY -- Alberta's top court has ruled against medical marijuana crusader Grant Krieger. The Albert Court of Appeal says Mr. Krieger can't "piggyback" on the Charter rights of sick people to have access to medicinal marijuana. The three-judge court rejected submissions by defence lawyer John Hooker that Mr. Krieger should be given a constitutional exemption to Canada's trafficking laws. Mr. Hooker argued that patients to whom Mr. Krieger supplied marijuana were entitled to get it, but the government hadn't created a suitable scheme for them to obtain it. [continues 226 words]
CALGARY - The Alberta Court of Appeal has rejected the bid of a Calgary marijuana activist seeking to have his drug trafficking charges stayed. Grant Krieger was looking for a constitutional exemption Wednesday from his marijuana trafficking conviction, arguing his actions were protected under the Charter of Rights and Freedoms. Krieger has admitted he sent two packages of marijuana to Manitoba in 2003 and 2004, but has argued he was supplying it to sick people for medical purposes. At Krieger's 2006 trial, it was argued it was too difficult for some ill people to obtain an exemption to use the drug under the Marijuana Medical Access Regulations -- doctors were reluctant to sign-off on the treatment due to insurance concerns. Krieger's lawyer, John Hooker, argued the judge made a mistake, telling the court of appeal the law isn't perfect, and "if we follow it blindly, sometimes great injustices arise." [end]
