cannabisnews.com: Judge Frees Frail Krieger Until Pot Trial





Judge Frees Frail Krieger Until Pot Trial
Posted by FoM on September 09, 1999 at 12:09:20 PT
By Bob Beaty, Calgary Herald
Source: Calgary Herald
Grant Krieger smiled wanly from his wheelchair Wednesday after being freed on bail pending his trial for trafficking the "medicine" or marijuana he takes daily to staunch the pain from multiple sclerosis. 

The 45-year-old Calgary man appeared weak and frail when Court of Queen's Bench Justice Patrick Sullivan granted his bail appeal. Provincial court Assistant Chief Judge Brian Stevenson had denied Krieger bail last month after the pot advocate refused to stop growing and supplying marijuana to other ill people through his Universal Compassion Club. Defence lawyer Adriano Iovinelli said outside court that, ever since Krieger has been imprisoned, his health has deteriorated because he can't take the daily doses of marijuana that control his symptoms. Sullivan heard that Krieger promised not to distribute the drug, though he would still take the drug. "He is not taunting the court," Iovinelli told reporters on the courthouse steps. "He just wants to change the legislation (that makes marijuana use illegal) and he sees himself as a martyr to that end." The lawyer said that deteriorating health forced Krieger to back down from his refusal to stop distributing the drug. "If he wants to fight a battle, he can't just do it from a wheelchair in the Calgary Remand Centre," Iovinelli said. Krieger's wife, Marie, said Sullivan showed a "great deal of fairness and compassion." Marie Krieger said the fact that her husband's head was tilted to the side shows he has grown weak from painful muscle spasms that were keeping him awake at night in his jail cell. She said it will probably take about 10 weeks of daily marijuana use to regain the same degree of control over his symptoms that allowed him to walk before he was arrested on Aug. 25. Police laid the trafficking charge after going to his home at 4611 Bowness Rd. N.W. to charge him with breach of probation stemming from a prior trafficking conviction. They found two marijuana plants in the backyard and obtained a search warrant, under which they seized 29 more plants and some drug paraphernalia. Krieger has waived his right to a preliminary hearing on the cultivation and possession of marijuana for the purposes of trafficking charge, and has elected to be tried by a Court of Queen's Bench judge and jury. Trial date expected to be set Oct. 13.Pubdate: Thursday 9 September 1999Copyright © 1999 Calgary Herald New Media Granted Bail - But Crusader Won't Give Up Drugs - 9/09/99http://www.cannabisnews.com/news/thread2809.shtml
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