cannabisnews.com: Marijuana Party Leader's Trial Delayed





Marijuana Party Leader's Trial Delayed
Posted by FoM on November 13, 2000 at 14:32:22 PT
By Donald McKenzie-- The Canadian Press
Source: Canoe
The head of the Marijuana party is more than a tad suspicious that his trial on possession and trafficking charges has been delayed until next year. Marc-Boris St-Maurice, 31, was scheduled to stand trial Monday along with Alexandre Neron, 21, after charges were laid following a police raid of the Compassion Club in Montreal earlier this year. 
But St-Maurice told a news conference he found out last week that the Crown had sought a delay in the case. It will now go ahead next Feb. 19. "We suspect that there's a certain amount of political fear of having the marijuana issue debated in court during an election campaign," St-Maurice said inside the courthouse. "We feel the timing is somewhat suspicious because the adjournment is . . during an election campaign." But St-Maurice stopped short of accusing anybody of political interference. "We think it's lack of political courage to address this issue during a campaign. "It (the issue) is perceived as something that's politically embarrassing or maybe political suicide. But I think that is only because our leaders are a little bit out of step with the people." James Brunton, a Crown prosecutor with the federal government, argued Monday there were solid legal reasons for requesting the delay. "Mr. St-Maurice and Mr. Neron had served a motion on the provincial attorney general saying that they would attack the constitutionality of certain aspects of the law that prohibits the trafficking of marijuana," Brunton said. The federal government needs time to study that development, he added. St-Maurice and Neron have said they were merely helping people suffering from AIDS or cancer who provided medical prescriptions to show they needed marijuana to relieve pain And St-Maurice said all the delay will do is hurt these people. "Two weeks or two months or two years, it would be the same case for us. "But the sick people who need access to medical marijuana -- some of these people are dying. And election or no election, they can't wait another six months. "This adjournment is putting the health of other patients at risk and that is unacceptable." But St-Maurice acknowledged the delay has helped him in at least one way by giving him extra time to campaign before Canadians vote Nov. 27. His party has 73 candidates including 31 in Quebec, 22 in Ontario and 14 in British Columbia. Three will run in Nova Scotia, two in Alberta and the last one in Manitoba. St-Maurice denied he has been slow off the mark in promoting his party since Prime Minister Jean Chretien called the election on Oct. 22. "I think that the last two weeks is the most critical time to campaign because that's where you have to really remind people to vote." Note: Crown denies political motives behind rescheduling.Source: CNEWSPublished: Monday, November 13, 2000Copyright © 2000, Canoe Limited Partnership. Website: http://www.canoe.ca/CNEWS/home.htmlCannabisNews Articles - Canada - Marijuana:http://cannabisnews.com/thcgi/search.pl?K=canada+marijuana
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Comment #1 posted by FoM on November 13, 2000 at 15:18:52 PT
Just a Test
Just testing the new features.
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