cannabisnews.com: Marijuana Party Boss Pays for Shaky Aim





Marijuana Party Boss Pays for Shaky Aim
Posted by FoM on November 26, 2000 at 11:55:50 PT
By Zev Singer, The Ottawa Citizen
Source: Ottawa Citizen
Marc-Boris St-Maurice, the leader of Canada's Marijuana Party, was charged with assaulting a police officer yesterday over a pie-throwing incident during a day-long marijuana decriminalization rally on Parliament Hill. The pie, however, was one that Mr. St-Maurice threw at himself. The 31-year-old Montrealer was trying to put a pie in the face of a Parliament Hill statue when he was confronted by three RCMP officers. 
"I was still holding a live pie," he said yesterday, after being charged and released by Ottawa-Carleton police. "So I de-activated it by putting my own face in it." Some of the pie splashed onto the face of a nearby Mountie -- "about two bites" worth, he said. That, he said, was the basis of the assault charge. According to the RCMP, half of the officer's face was covered in pie. Mr. St-Maurice is to appear in court on Dec. 15. The mid-afternoon incident occurred well into the rally, which drew a diverse crowd of several hundred people fighting for the decriminalization of marijuana. There were the medical exemptees, each with a long list of health problems and a longer list of legal battles fought to secure their permission to light up. There were the recreational users, still taking their chances legally. There were the libertarians and the economics-talking candidates for the Marijuana Party. There were RCMP officers in full uniform, with their big blue coats and furry hats. There were undercover Mounties with tuques and earrings. In the middle of it all was Renee Boje, the celebrity casualty of the American war on drugs -- the 31-year-old California woman applying to the Canadian government for status as a refugee from the U.S. and its justice system. She is bundled up against the Canadian cold not by choice. Charged by her federal government with watering the marijuana plant of a friend, Ms. Boje could face a 10-year imprisonment if she is extradited to the U.S. She has been in B.C. for two years and will stay there while she waits for Justice Minister Anne McLellan to decide whether she can stay in Canada. "Mother Earth gave us this plant," she told a crowd yesterday, "so that we can heal each other and the planet." A film crew follows Ms. Boje around, working on a documentary with the working title, The Flower in the Storm. Everyone at the rally knows her. Many have been on the Internet show she hosts, The Healing Herb Hour. "She's basically a flower child," said Ottawa lawyer and drug policy advocate Eugene Oscapella. "She's a lovely gentle woman who has gotten caught up with one of the most punitive and violent prison systems in the world." As Mr. Oscapella speaks, he is quick to point out that 1,000 RCMP officers are employed to enforce drug laws, he said. Half of the offences are simple possession of marijuana. Like everyone else at the rally, he finds that to be a waste of taxpayers' money. "I'm here to talk about marijuana and money," said Raymond Turmel, the Marijuana Party candidate for the Ottawa-Vanier riding. So much money would be saved by legalizing and taxing marijuana, that everything from health care to Quebec separatism would be solved, he said. Note: Party leader charged after Mountie gets piece of pie in face.Source: Ottawa Citizen (CN ON)Author: Zev Singer, The Ottawa CitizenPublished: Sunday November 26, 2000Copyright: 2000 The Ottawa CitizenContact: letters thecitizen.southam.ca Address: 1101 Baxter Rd.,Ottawa, Ontario, K2C 3M4Fax: 613-596-8522Website: http://www.ottawacitizen.com/Related Article & Web Site:Marijuana Party of Canadahttp://www.marijuanaparty.org/Renee Boje's Legal Defense Fundhttp://www.reneeboje.com/Marijuana Party Leader's Trial Delayedhttp://cannabisnews.com/news/thread7651.shtml U.S. Woman Fights Extradition on Medical Pot Busthttp://cannabisnews.com/news/3/thread3513.shtml
END SNIP -->
Snipped
Home Comment Email Register Recent Comments Help




Post Comment


Name: Optional Password: 
E-Mail: 
Subject: 
Comment: [Please refrain from using profanity in your message]
Link URL: 
Link Title: