T
The420Guy
Guest
It has all the elements of a Hollywood movie thriller. A dying famous
author, a mansion in Bel Air with 4,000 marijuana plants, even an escape
to another country by an innocent young woman. But it's very real, and
the story is already rife with tragedy. Canadian justices will rule in
the coming year whether to return Renee Boje to America to face a
mandatory 10-year prison sentence for being present at a medical
marijuana grow operation, or whether to grant her political asylum in
response to the severity of America's cannabis laws. She fled the U.S. in
1998, at the advice of her lawyer.
Renee Boje is asking her fellow American citizens to urge Canada to grant
her petition for refugee status. Actor Woody Harrelson recently wrote to
the Canadian courts about Boje: "Please, please, show some compassion for
Renee, and don't allow her to become a another statistic in a money
making hypocritical war against good citizens". He went on to call her a
"wonderful lady, who has never been violent or hurt anyone, (and) who
simply believed what was going on in that house in Bel Air was legal."
Boje was a hired professional freelance artist in 1997 when she met Todd
McCormick, who has suffered bone cancer and radiation treatments since he
was a child. McCormick had hired Boje to do artwork for a book on medical
marijuana he was writing with his publisher, the late author Peter
McWilliams ("Life 101", "Ain't Nobody's Business If I Do").
McWilliams, also a patient, was suffering from full-blown AIDS and
cancer. He and McCormick had converted a mansion into a cannabis research
lab. They claimed they were doing clinical research testing strains of
pot for effectiveness in treating the symptoms of diseases including
AIDS, cancer, and chronic pain. They assumed they were protected by
California's Proposition 215, which was approved by California voters in
1996, and allows medical marijuana patients to cultivation marijuana for
medical use. But a federal judge ruled out any mention of medical
necessity in the case, so jurors couldn't be told that McWilliams and
McCormick were seriously ill.
Boje is charged with watering and moving some plants. She admits she had
knowledge of the operation, but denies assisting in it, and like
McCormick and McWilliams, thought it was protected by Prop. 215. However,
U.S. federal authorities that snagged her leaving the residence as they
were starting a raid on the home claim she made a statement admitting
guilt. She says that just isn't true. She is facing a staggering 10-year
mandatory sentence in federal prison. Amnesty International decries
violence that women are subjected to endure in her would-be prison as the
worst in America.
McWilliams was denied his use of marijuana as an herbal appetite
stimulant by U.S. District Judge George King, and died before his
sentencing while choking on his own vomit in his bathroom. But not before
Boje made a courageous offer to turn herself in if the charges were
dropped against the dying McWilliams. Bone cancer and chronic pain
patient McCormick is serving a mandatory five-year prison sentence at
aptly named Terminal Island Federal Correctional Institute. Now Boje is
a refugee from her country, and has been branded a dangerous criminal by
U.S. authorities. Time is running out for her.
Canadian appeals lawyer John Conroy (www.johnconroy.com) says that
support from fellow Americans, and more importantly, the American media,
is what Boje will need if she is to persuade Canadian authorities to
deliver her a victory in this precedent setting case. Boje, who has given
over 300 print, radio and television interviews in Canada, is now asking
the American media and public to participate in her call for justice.
Washington State NORML Director Vivian McPeak calls her case, "a
bellwether poster-child example of the cruelty of America's war on
cannabis."
Boje will be spending this holiday season with her new friends and family
in Canada. Supporters pledge to keep her out of an American prison when
next year's holiday season comes. They are urging her fellow U.S.
citizens to write, e-mail, and fax the Canadian government in support of
her bid for political asylum.
She considers the cannabis plant "a healing herb", and can't understand
how her own government can incarcerate sick and dying people in its jails
and prisons because of it. Her goal is to stay in Canada, where she wants
to open a holistic healing center. She sells her art in cards and
certificates to help raise money for her defense. For the meantime she
will live in exile, uncertain of what the future may bring.
For more information on Renee Boje's story, visit her web site at
www.reneeboje.com, or call NORML Executive Director Keith Stroup at (202)
483-5500. Boje can be reached for interviews at: (604) 740-7894, or by
e-mail at renee@reneeboje.com. Financial contributions and letters to the
Canadian government in her support can be sent to the Renee Boje Legal
Defense Fund, P.O. Box 1557, Gibsons B.C. Canada V0N 1V0. Additional
reference info: www.toddmccormick.com; www.petertrial.com;
www.growmedicine.com.
NORML Foundation
1001 Connecticut Ave, NW #710
Washington, DC 20036
tel: (202) 483-8751
fax: (202) 483-0057
email: foundation@norml.org
internet: www.norml.org
author, a mansion in Bel Air with 4,000 marijuana plants, even an escape
to another country by an innocent young woman. But it's very real, and
the story is already rife with tragedy. Canadian justices will rule in
the coming year whether to return Renee Boje to America to face a
mandatory 10-year prison sentence for being present at a medical
marijuana grow operation, or whether to grant her political asylum in
response to the severity of America's cannabis laws. She fled the U.S. in
1998, at the advice of her lawyer.
Renee Boje is asking her fellow American citizens to urge Canada to grant
her petition for refugee status. Actor Woody Harrelson recently wrote to
the Canadian courts about Boje: "Please, please, show some compassion for
Renee, and don't allow her to become a another statistic in a money
making hypocritical war against good citizens". He went on to call her a
"wonderful lady, who has never been violent or hurt anyone, (and) who
simply believed what was going on in that house in Bel Air was legal."
Boje was a hired professional freelance artist in 1997 when she met Todd
McCormick, who has suffered bone cancer and radiation treatments since he
was a child. McCormick had hired Boje to do artwork for a book on medical
marijuana he was writing with his publisher, the late author Peter
McWilliams ("Life 101", "Ain't Nobody's Business If I Do").
McWilliams, also a patient, was suffering from full-blown AIDS and
cancer. He and McCormick had converted a mansion into a cannabis research
lab. They claimed they were doing clinical research testing strains of
pot for effectiveness in treating the symptoms of diseases including
AIDS, cancer, and chronic pain. They assumed they were protected by
California's Proposition 215, which was approved by California voters in
1996, and allows medical marijuana patients to cultivation marijuana for
medical use. But a federal judge ruled out any mention of medical
necessity in the case, so jurors couldn't be told that McWilliams and
McCormick were seriously ill.
Boje is charged with watering and moving some plants. She admits she had
knowledge of the operation, but denies assisting in it, and like
McCormick and McWilliams, thought it was protected by Prop. 215. However,
U.S. federal authorities that snagged her leaving the residence as they
were starting a raid on the home claim she made a statement admitting
guilt. She says that just isn't true. She is facing a staggering 10-year
mandatory sentence in federal prison. Amnesty International decries
violence that women are subjected to endure in her would-be prison as the
worst in America.
McWilliams was denied his use of marijuana as an herbal appetite
stimulant by U.S. District Judge George King, and died before his
sentencing while choking on his own vomit in his bathroom. But not before
Boje made a courageous offer to turn herself in if the charges were
dropped against the dying McWilliams. Bone cancer and chronic pain
patient McCormick is serving a mandatory five-year prison sentence at
aptly named Terminal Island Federal Correctional Institute. Now Boje is
a refugee from her country, and has been branded a dangerous criminal by
U.S. authorities. Time is running out for her.
Canadian appeals lawyer John Conroy (www.johnconroy.com) says that
support from fellow Americans, and more importantly, the American media,
is what Boje will need if she is to persuade Canadian authorities to
deliver her a victory in this precedent setting case. Boje, who has given
over 300 print, radio and television interviews in Canada, is now asking
the American media and public to participate in her call for justice.
Washington State NORML Director Vivian McPeak calls her case, "a
bellwether poster-child example of the cruelty of America's war on
cannabis."
Boje will be spending this holiday season with her new friends and family
in Canada. Supporters pledge to keep her out of an American prison when
next year's holiday season comes. They are urging her fellow U.S.
citizens to write, e-mail, and fax the Canadian government in support of
her bid for political asylum.
She considers the cannabis plant "a healing herb", and can't understand
how her own government can incarcerate sick and dying people in its jails
and prisons because of it. Her goal is to stay in Canada, where she wants
to open a holistic healing center. She sells her art in cards and
certificates to help raise money for her defense. For the meantime she
will live in exile, uncertain of what the future may bring.
For more information on Renee Boje's story, visit her web site at
www.reneeboje.com, or call NORML Executive Director Keith Stroup at (202)
483-5500. Boje can be reached for interviews at: (604) 740-7894, or by
e-mail at renee@reneeboje.com. Financial contributions and letters to the
Canadian government in her support can be sent to the Renee Boje Legal
Defense Fund, P.O. Box 1557, Gibsons B.C. Canada V0N 1V0. Additional
reference info: www.toddmccormick.com; www.petertrial.com;
www.growmedicine.com.
NORML Foundation
1001 Connecticut Ave, NW #710
Washington, DC 20036
tel: (202) 483-8751
fax: (202) 483-0057
email: foundation@norml.org
internet: www.norml.org
