T
The420Guy
Guest
Shivering demonstrators stood outside the Calgary Remand Centre on
Saturday to protest the confiscation of jailed marijuana crusader Grant
Krieger's pot.
Krieger was down the road at Spy Hill jail, where he was moved Jan. 25
to serve a 33-day sentence for not paying $1,750 in fines for breach of
probation.
Twenty protesters eventually made their way there, waving placards that
read: "Give Grant Back His Cannabis" and "Would You Withhold Insulin?"
Ken Plotnikoff, 49, shivered, but it wasn't the biting wind.
"I get muscle spasms in my back all the time because I have a
spinal-cord injury," he said. "Cannabis helps, the spasms aren't as
severe. Normally, they're debilitating," said Plotnikoff, confined to a
wheelchair after breaking his neck in a swimming accident years ago.
"I'm here in support of Grant. He's got a good cause," he said.
Fred Sima, with the British Columbia Marijuana Party, came to Calgary
just for the protest.
"I've never met Grant, but it's an atrocity what's going on," he said.
Last month, Krieger won a landmark Alberta Court of Queen's Bench
ruling allowing him to grow and cultivate marijuana. The province is
appealing.
Krieger, 46, who suffers from multiple sclerosis and smokes pot to
alleviate pain and spasms, surrendered to police on Jan. 22, opting to
do time rather than pay the fines.
He armed himself with a Ziploc bag stuffed with $1,000 worth of
marijuana -- four times the legal amount considered possession with
intent to traffic -- which he planned to smoke in jail.
Police, on the advice of federal Crown prosecutors, did not charge him.
Alberta Justice took away his pot, saying contraband isn't allowed in
jail.
This irony did not escape demonstrator Steve Sjalozki, 22.
"People in jail are doing a whole bunch of different drugs prescribed
to them -- and drugs that aren't," he said.
Newshawk: creator@mapinc.org
Pubdate: Sun, 28 Jan 2001
Source: Calgary Herald (CN AB)
Website: Calgary Herald
Address: P.O. Box 2400, Stn. M, Calgary, Alberta T2P 0W8
Email: letters@theherald.southam.ca
Forum: https://forums.canada.com/~calgary
Copyright: 2001 Calgary Herald
Fax: (403) 235-7379
Author: Linda Slobodian
Saturday to protest the confiscation of jailed marijuana crusader Grant
Krieger's pot.
Krieger was down the road at Spy Hill jail, where he was moved Jan. 25
to serve a 33-day sentence for not paying $1,750 in fines for breach of
probation.
Twenty protesters eventually made their way there, waving placards that
read: "Give Grant Back His Cannabis" and "Would You Withhold Insulin?"
Ken Plotnikoff, 49, shivered, but it wasn't the biting wind.
"I get muscle spasms in my back all the time because I have a
spinal-cord injury," he said. "Cannabis helps, the spasms aren't as
severe. Normally, they're debilitating," said Plotnikoff, confined to a
wheelchair after breaking his neck in a swimming accident years ago.
"I'm here in support of Grant. He's got a good cause," he said.
Fred Sima, with the British Columbia Marijuana Party, came to Calgary
just for the protest.
"I've never met Grant, but it's an atrocity what's going on," he said.
Last month, Krieger won a landmark Alberta Court of Queen's Bench
ruling allowing him to grow and cultivate marijuana. The province is
appealing.
Krieger, 46, who suffers from multiple sclerosis and smokes pot to
alleviate pain and spasms, surrendered to police on Jan. 22, opting to
do time rather than pay the fines.
He armed himself with a Ziploc bag stuffed with $1,000 worth of
marijuana -- four times the legal amount considered possession with
intent to traffic -- which he planned to smoke in jail.
Police, on the advice of federal Crown prosecutors, did not charge him.
Alberta Justice took away his pot, saying contraband isn't allowed in
jail.
This irony did not escape demonstrator Steve Sjalozki, 22.
"People in jail are doing a whole bunch of different drugs prescribed
to them -- and drugs that aren't," he said.
Newshawk: creator@mapinc.org
Pubdate: Sun, 28 Jan 2001
Source: Calgary Herald (CN AB)
Website: Calgary Herald
Address: P.O. Box 2400, Stn. M, Calgary, Alberta T2P 0W8
Email: letters@theherald.southam.ca
Forum: https://forums.canada.com/~calgary
Copyright: 2001 Calgary Herald
Fax: (403) 235-7379
Author: Linda Slobodian