Krieger helped lead the way to legalization of medical marijuana To lose his legacy in a haze of legalized pot would be an injustice. Not that Grant Krieger isn't feeling lost enough these days, some seven years after he abandoned his crusade to use and supply medicinal marijuana, as a real and effective treatment for conditions like the multiple sclerosis he's battled for decades. "I could be better, and I could be worse, but I'm just so frustrated at the way things ended," says Krieger, from his home in Calgary. "I'm just a hermit now." Obviously he has the right to feel he didn't go far enough - but for those on the outside, including journalists who watched Krieger deliberately disobey the law in order to force Canada to reassess it's stance on marijuana, it's what the man started that should make him proud. [continues 581 words]
Tracing marijuana's journey from menace to medicine 1922 - Famous Five member Emily Murphy, who helmed the battle to have women declared "persons" in Canada, publishes The Black Candle, an anti-drug (and unabashedly racist) manifesto that raises alarm over "a new menace" in the world of drugs: Marijuana. The book calls marijuana "a weed of madness" and suggests only three ways of escape from its addictive clutches - insanity, death or abandonment. 1923 - Cannabis is added to the restricted list under Canada's Narcotics Drug Act after a vague reference to a "new drug" is mentioned during a late-night session in the House of Commons. It, along with codeine, is added with no debate. Historians believe the influence of Murphy's book was one of the primary reasons for its addition. [continues 503 words]
My column last week advocating the abolition of civil jury trials caused some confusion. To be clear, I am not advocating the abolition of juries for criminal trials. The right to a jury trial is enshrined in the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms for anyone charged with an offence - other than under military law - for which there is a potential sentence of five years or more. More noteworthy is the fact a criminal jury can serve as society's conscience. [continues 588 words]
My recent column advocating the abolition of civil jury trials caused some confusion. To be clear, I am not advocating the abolition of juries for criminal trials. The right to a jury trial is enshrined in the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms for anyone charged with an offence - other than under military law - for which there is a potential sentence of five years or more. More noteworthy is the fact a criminal jury can serve as society's conscience. That's because criminal juries have the power to refuse to convict obviously guilty people. [continues 584 words]
My column last Sunday advocating the abolition of civil jury trials caused some confusion. To be clear, I am not advocating the abolition of juries for criminal trials. The right to a jury trial is enshrined in the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms for anyone charged with an offence - other than under military law - for which there is a potential sentence of five years or more. More noteworthy is the fact a criminal jury can serve as society's conscience. [continues 598 words]
My column last Sunday advocating the abolition of civil jury trials caused some confusion. To be clear, I am not advocating the abolition of juries for criminal trials. The right to a jury trial is enshrined in the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms for anyone charged with an offence - other than under military law - for which there is a potential sentence of five years or more. More noteworthy is the fact a criminal jury can serve as society's conscience. [continues 566 words]
My column last Sunday advocating the abolition of civil jury trials caused some confusion. To be clear, I am not advocating the abolition of juries for criminal trials. The right to a jury trial is enshrined in the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms for anyone charged with an offence - other than under military law - for which there is a potential sentence of five years or more. More noteworthy is the fact a criminal jury can serve as society's conscience. [continues 532 words]
Judges can't force jurors to find people guilty under unfair laws My column last Sunday advocating the abolition of civil jury trials caused some confusion. To be clear, I am not advocating the abolition of juries for criminal trials. The right to a jury trial is enshrined in the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms for anyone charged with an offence - other than under military law - for which there is a potential sentence of five years or more. More noteworthy is the fact a criminal jury can serve as society's conscience. [continues 598 words]
Judges Can't Force Jurors to Find People Guilty Under Unfair Laws My column last Sunday advocating the abolition of civil jury trials caused some confusion. To be clear, I am not advocating the abolition of juries for criminal trials. The right to a jury trial is enshrined in the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms for anyone charged with an offence - other than under military law - for which there is a potential sentence of five years or more. More noteworthy is the fact a criminal jury can serve as society's conscience. [continues 598 words]
A dozen years after a landmark Alberta court ruling paved the way for greater use of medicinal marijuana in Canada, federal legislation governing its use has produced a perverse system that's failing both patients in pain and the doctors charged with their care. The ridiculous state of legalized marijuana treatment in this country is brought into sharp focus by a new Canadian Medical Association survey that finds many doctors refuse to take part in the program, often for ethical and legal reasons. In the absence of research-based guidelines and training about dosage, potency, sourcing and efficacy, they just don't feel comfortable filling out that prescription. [continues 460 words]
Once a month, Rob Blair's green salvation is delivered to his door in a plastic baggie: 100 grams of marijuana grown especially for him. The 41-year-old Calgarian, who suffers from chronic pain after a bad cycling crash 18 years ago, is one of several dozen city residents allowed to ingest cannabis legally. Inside his downtown bachelor pad, he's got a couple glass bongs and a HerbalAire vaporizer he sometimes uses to consume marijuana. His preference, though, is "old school." [continues 1136 words]
Eleven years ago next month, Alberta Court of Queen's Bench Justice Darlene Acton handed down a landmark ruling that gave Calgary multiple sclerosis sufferer Grant Krieger the right to grow and cultivate marijuana. She noted the absurdity in the federal law of the day that gave ill Canadians suffering from severe illness the right to possess marijuana but no legal outlet in which to buy it. A year later, the federal government made it possible for sick Canadians to buy medicinal marijuana through legal means. Yet, to this day, it remains almost impossible to find a physician who will prescribe it. [continues 403 words]
'I prefer the natural herb that I know where it has been grown' Several Calgary stores were busted last week for selling synthetic marijuana, but the owners aren't talking. What do you know about it? The situation is that it's not synthetic marijuana; it is incense. It says right on the package, "Not for human consumption." Some people are consuming it, but I know the majority of the people out there who do consume cannabis and other drugs aren't consuming it to smoke, they're using it as incense. Some of those storeowners are good friends of mine. [continues 1443 words]
Re: Dope activist spared jail time (Dec. 22). First, the headline does no good for anyone. I expect headlines like that from the other paper. Please try to understand, for people suffering debilitating diseases, it is not dope, it is medicine. Like Grant Krieger, I have multiple sclerosis. My type is called primary progressive and there is no treatment or drugs available to halt it or alleviate the pain. The only relief I get is from the cannabis I buy from a compassionate club. My doctor will not sign the forms to buy marijuana from the federal government. I am told it is crap anyway, so my feeling is good riddance to it and the federal program. I have never had the feeling that anyone in Ottawa really cared about my situation anyway. [continues 157 words]
Canada's criminalization of marijuana, ramped up under the Tory government of Stephen Harper, continues to be undermined in the very places that backstop the Criminal Code -- the courts. This week, a judge found a man who openly sold pot to people in need of pain relief was guilty of a victimless crime. With no one hurting, no one at risk for Grant Krieger's crime, Queen's Bench Justice Shawn Greenberg slapped him instead with probation. In fact, the judge reflected, it seemed that Mr. Krieger was doing his clients a favour. All who came to the pot advocate, himself suffering with multiple sclerosis, found a ready source of quality weed, and would get it free if unable to afford the natural source of pain relief. [continues 193 words]
Judge Calls Trafficking Act Of Compassion WINNIPEG -- A Calgary medicinal pot activist convicted of drug trafficking acted "purely out of compassion" and not for his own financial gain, a judge said yesterday. Grant Krieger "felt that, but for him, his clients would be forced to suffer without relief or to resort to obtaining the product on the street," said Justice Shaun Greenberg. Krieger, a 55-year-old Calgary man, was convicted in Winnipeg last year of drug trafficking in connection with a 2004 incident in which RCMP pulled him over in Headingley and seized about one pound of marijuana and $3,925 cash from his vehicle. [continues 130 words]
A medicinal pot activist convicted of drug trafficking acted "purely out of compassion" and not for his own financial gain, a judge said yesterday. Grant Krieger "felt that, but for him, his clients would be forced to suffer without relief or to resort to obtaining the product on the street," said Justice Shaun Greenberg. Krieger, a 55-year-old Calgary man, was convicted in Winnipeg last year of drug trafficking in connection with a 2004 incident in which RCMP pulled him over in Headingley and seized about one pound of marijuana and $3,925 cash from his vehicle. [continues 184 words]
Krieger, Grant
