cannabisnews.com: Med. Pot Advocate Offers To Drop Extradition Fight





Med. Pot Advocate Offers To Drop Extradition Fight
Posted by FoM on November 09, 1999 at 13:50:35 PT
Source: CNews
An American fighting extradition to California in a medical-marijuana case offered Monday to return to the United States if charges there were dropped against one of her co-accused. 
Renee Boje, who's been living in Gibson's, B.C., said she was prepared to surrender to face drug manufacturing, distribution and conspiracy charges, which carry a minimum 10-year prison sentence. But she wants charges dropped against medical-marijuana advocate Peter McWilliams and assurances he can use marijuana to combat the effects of AIDS and cancer. "I would be lying if I said I was not frightened over the consequences of my actions," Boje, 30, said in a news release. "I would also be betraying everything I believe in if I did not do whatever I could to save Peter." McWilliams's co-accused, Todd McCormick, also suffers from cancer but Boje said McWilliams's health is the most fragile. "He's really close to dying," she said in an interview. "He's only awake four hours out of the day." McWilliams uses pot to fight nausea and stimulate his appetite, problems linked to AIDS drugs he takes, she said. Boje said her offer to surrender is not an admission of guilt. "I'm simply offering myself as a trade so they will allow Peter to go free and allow him to use his medicine," she said. "Everything is all legal under the state of California." Boje's decision came after a U.S. federal judge ruled McWilliams and McCormick could not use the defence of medical necessity at their trial in Los Angeles next week. They cannot refer to their medical conditions, mention the medical uses of marijuana or California's Proposition 215, which allows the personal use of marijuana for medical purposes. The judge disallowed the defence because, while California's law recognizes some medical benefits to pot, U.S. federal law does not and state laws don't apply to federal offences. McCormick, McWilliams, Boje and several others were arrested in 1997 when federal officials found thousands of marijuana plants growing at a Bel-Air mansion and three other leased locations in Los Angeles County. McWilliams, a self-help publisher, is accused of financing the operation. McCormick and others are accused of growing the pot and trying to sell it to the Los Angeles Cannabis Buyers Club, which has dispensed the drug since Californians voted in 1996 to legalize it for medical use. McWilliams said the ruling effectively hamstrings his defence -- that he and McCormick were cultivating the larger number of marijuana plants as research into which strains are medically the most effective. He said he will be forced to admit growing the pot plants but won't be allowed to explain why. A term in the "germ-rich environment of a federal prison would be a death sentence," McWilliams said in an e-mail to supporters. Boje, a New York artist, said she was arrested after police claimed to have observed her and another woman watering some of the pot plants on one day. She came to Canada last year on advice from her lawyer after the charges were briefly withdrawn. She was arrested last February when RCMP raided a Sechelt, B.C., marijuana-grow operation where she was staying. U.S. authorities then requested her extradition. Boje's lawyer is fighting extradition, saying statements she allegedly made to police after her arrest weren't voluntary. He also argues the charges are political, arising from U.S. federal opposition to California's medical-marijuana policy. The extradition hearing was adjourned last week until Dec. 15. Boje has also filed a refugee claim. Published: November 8, 1999 Related Articles & Web Sites:Renee Boje's Legal Defense Fund http://thecompassionclub.org/reneeVote On Medical Marijuanahttp://www.vote.com/Fully Informed Jury Associationhttp://www.fija.org/215 NOW!http://www.215now.com/Medical Marijuana Magazinehttp://MarijuanaMagazine.com/McWilliams.comhttp://McWilliams.com/PeterTrialhttp://www.petertrial.com/ Todd McCormick's Grow Medicinehttp://growmedicine.com/  Renee Boje Willing To Surrender - 11/08/99 http://www.cannabisnews.com/news/thread3599.shtmlDrugSense FOCUS Alert # 135http://www.mapinc.org/alert/0135.htmlHelp, Again, Please From Peter McWilliams - 11/07/99http://www.cannabisnews.com/news/thread3592.shtmlNew York Times Article:LA Drug Case Bars Medical Marijuana Defense - 11/07/99http://www.cannabisnews.com/news/thread3585.shtml
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Comment #3 posted by BigAb on November 10, 1999 at 04:14:33 PT:
Rene's homecomming
  I'd be afraid ! If I had the governments word chisled ona stone tablet I'd be afraid ! Their word means nothing.Sure, we'll let him (peterMc), sure e can smoke pot....Then you get into the states and "We've received numorous complaints from Justice Dept. and I'm afraid we must recind our previous "commitment" to said party".......Their word means squat...Stay where you are Rene ................
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Comment #2 posted by Doctor Dave on November 09, 1999 at 19:52:26 PT
High Profile (no pun intended)
If in fact this deal goes through, it will illuminate the case to a higher profile in the press, which is just what is needed. While I'm sure that the readers of cannabisnews.com realize the war atrocities our federal government is committing, many average people do not.Doctor Dave"A nation that makes war on huge numbers of its own people can never truly be free."
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Comment #1 posted by kaptinemo on November 09, 1999 at 17:42:52 PT
Once again...don't go back!
Thomas Jefferson said, "To attempt to argue with someone who has divorced the use of reason has all the usefulness of administering medicine to the dead."The Federal government has divorced the use of reason in its' War on (Some) Drugs. It does not lose any sleep entertaining doubts about whether it is doing the right thing. The prosecutors of this sham don't care whether its' position is morally bankrupt. In the final analysis, this comes down to one thing: power. "Government is not reason. it is not eloquence, it is force!Like fire, it is a useful servant and a fearful master." - Geaorge Washington. The Feds have ceased to use reason, they have lost the eloquence needed to legitimize their position... all they are left with is force. They will stop at nothing to literally destroy the lives of those who have the guts to challenge its' 'authority'. The treatment being meted out to Mr. McWilliams is proof of that. To entrust your safety to such vermin is to become a martyr yourself. Stay where you are, Renee. A vocal - and visible - activist is truly needed now. Quietly submitting to murderers and trading possible freedom for sure punishment and degradation is no bargain. In fact, it is exactly what the murderers want.
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