cannabisnews.com: Legal Marijuana Advocate Flees To Canada 





Legal Marijuana Advocate Flees To Canada 
Posted by FoM on November 24, 2000 at 07:01:10 PT
By Jason Laughlin, Courier-Post Staff
Source: Cherry Hill Courier-Post
Edward Forchion, a Browns Mills man who has campaigned to legalize marijuana, has fled to Canada to avoid a jail sentence for possession of the drug.Forchion, 36, left the United States last weekend and has sought asylum at the Cuban Embassy in Canada, he said in a phone call to the Courier-Post. His sentencing is scheduled for Dec. 1 in Superior Court in Camden.
"I can't just walk into jail," Forchion said Wednesday.Forchion ran unsuccessfully this fall for a Burlington County freeholder's seat and the 1st District congressional seat.He said he arrived Wednesday at the Cuban Embassy in Ottawa, bags in hand. The embassy denied his verbal request for asylum and asked him to put it in writing.Forchion pleaded guilty to conspiracy and marijuana possession but filed a motion to retract his plea.He could be sentenced to 10 years imprisonment, but he can apply to the state's Intense Supervised Probation program, which could allow him to be released under strict monitoring after serving about six months of his term. Without the program, he would be eligible for parole in about 30 months.Forchion would become a fugitive if he does not show up for his Dec. 1 hearing, said Greg Reinert, spokesman for the Camden County Prosecutor's office."As with all cases, if the defendant fails to appear on his sentencing date on Dec. 1, the prosecutor will move to revoke bail and begin proceedings to have any posted bail forfeited and to seek to have that defendant extradited from any jurisdiction he is hiding in," Reinert said.Forchion pleaded guilty in September, saying he wanted to be out of jail to see his children. His children were not with him in Canada, he said. He remains committed to legalizing marijuana in the United States, he said. "I don't hurt anybody. I should be allowed to smoke," he said. Complete Title: Legal Marijuana Advocate Flees To Canada To Avoid PrisonSource: Cherry Hill Courier-Post (NJ)Author: Jason Laughlin, Courier-Post StaffPublished: Friday, November 24, 2000Copyright: 2000 Cherry Hill Courier-PostContact: cpedit courierpostonline.comAddress: P.O. Box 5300, Cherry Hill, N.J. 08034Website: http://www.courierpostonline.com/Feedback: http://www.courierpostonline.com/about/edletter.htmlRelated Articles & Web Site:Legalize Marijuana Partyhttp://www.tlmp.org/Marijuana Candidate Finds Plea a Bargainhttp://cannabisnews.com/news/thread7122.shtmlCannabisNews Articles - Ed Forchionhttp://cannabisnews.com/thcgi/search.pl?K=Forchion
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Comment #4 posted by defenderoffreeworld on November 25, 2000 at 12:31:05 PT:
it's begun
I knew it wasn't going to be long until we were forced to leave our own country to seek refuge elsewhere due to the mere fact that 90% of americans are blinded to all the iniquities going on. this is just the first case, but beware, there are more to come. the only thing that maintains our hope is the interchanging of ideas through internet, but that too, might be taken from us. 
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Comment #3 posted by Robbie on November 24, 2000 at 14:37:17 PT:
Don't forget some of the others...
Allen Richardson lived in New York and tried to get rid of $20 worth of blotters of acid in 1972. He was arrested and sent to to do some hard time in Attica, of all places. While outside the prison on a work detail, the riots of 1972 happened. Richardson didn't want to die in a riot and walked off the detail and fled to Canada. There he secured a much different life for himself. He developed a career and met a woman and made a family... Now he wasn't just a janitor or a retail worker or policeman or anthing standard. He became a physicist! He spent 30 years at a Canadian company being a physicist. Then (and I don't know what event came about to re-visit the issue) the US Government, either state or federal level, decided that Mr. Richardson had to pay for that transgression against their authority. Just this year, he was remanded to US officials to serve the rest of his original sentence, if not a completely new charge pending from his escape.Now, the point to all of that information is this...what in the hell are we persecuting this man for? For being young? For living a free and independent life? For being one of the people? What is this man's crime? Should he be taught a lesson for his leaving the authority of a system that villified him for an alternative lifestyle? Isn't he justified at leaving? The previous poster had the right idea...check out the link below. Look up persecution and persecute of the refugee definition site.
fascism(n.)-racist and nationalist sys. of govt. marked by oppr. of liberties 
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Comment #2 posted by observer on November 24, 2000 at 08:54:29 PT
Another Refugee from Tyranny
Just as all other totalitarian regimes have been marked by the presence of refugees seeking to escape the tyranny, so also is the US marked. Rene Boje, now Edward Forchion are both refugees from this tyrannical nation. And those are just the ones we know about. Remember, these are people facing political persecution. Let the police, prosecutors, prison unions and other blatantly vested intrests deny it all they please; these people are being persecuted for politics; they seek to avoid being made into scapegoat political prisoners to further the careers of police, prosecutors, prison unions, not to mention the forced-treatment rackets. He and Rene are refugees: notice how studiously the mainstream (government propaganda) press will seek to discredit Forchion's obvious refugee status; this will happen in lockstep with the phases of government extradition/prosecution that will happen. As happened to Rene Bojee, this refugee will, again for politics in its most pure form, be denied by Canadian authorities official refugee status. (Since, sadly, Canada is basically a de facto territory of the US, whose too-often craven public officials do the bidding of the US government with astonishing consistency. More politics.)Practically speaking, I'm not sure how wise it is to appeal to the Cubans for mercy in the name of freedom, but perhaps Mr. Forchion's case will prove exceptional. I wish him and his family the best and pray that they remain at liberty. Drug war prisoners are political prisonershttp://www.google.com/search?q=drug+war+political+prisoners 
definition: refugee
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Comment #1 posted by michael on November 24, 2000 at 08:02:06 PT:
no mans'land
What happens to people like Mr. Forchion? One of thousands caught in a time warp as we battle with the antis'. Felon today, standup citizen tomorrow? Human lives' devistated by the drug war, are not claymation puppets, or are they! 
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