Friday, March 30, 2007
Doped up system
By LICIA CORBELLA
Calgary Sun
Sometimes doing the right thing requires doing an illegal thing.
That is the central truth behind Grant Krieger's life.
On Tuesday, Canada's foremost medicinal marijuana minstrel was sentenced to four months in prison for distributing pot to sick and dying people.
But Alberta provincial court Judge William Pepler delayed the start of Krieger's sentence so corrections officials can make arrangements for Krieger to use marijuana in jail.
The irony is immense. Judge Pepler's sentencing highlights that the law is an ass. Krieger is being punished for helping others get the medicine Judge Pepler recognizes as necessary and that is virtually unattainable except through illegal means.
As for Krieger, 52, he says as long as he has his medicine, bars on a jail cell are nothing compared to being trapped in a body that won't move and is racked with pain. That's his reality without his medicine.
Krieger sweeps his hand around his rented duplex in a seedy part of Calgary and asks: "Does this look like the home of a successful drug trafficker to you?"
Unlike most drug dealers -- with their expensive jewelry, fancy digs, fast cars, big screen TVs and high-tech security -- Krieger is broke, doesn't own a watch, car, stereo, or TV and his security consists of three Labrador-mix dogs who wag their tails at all visitors.
Unlike most drug traffickers, who beat up or shoot those who don't pay them, Krieger often sells his organic, life-saving medicine at a loss to those in desperate need.
The man in Selkirk, Man., who Krieger was convicted of sending 306.5 grams on Dec. 23, 2003, and another 495 grams on Jan. 8, 2004, as part of his work with the Compassion Club and the Krieger Foundation, has since died of the cancer that had him turn to alternative medicines in the first place.
But Krieger is "at peace" knowing that man's final months were more full and less painful -- along with other sick and dying people -- thanks to his sacrifice.
Krieger comes by his cannabis crusade honestly. The father of three grown children, who has suffered with multiple sclerosis for decades, was first introduced to marijuana after he attempted suicide in 1994.
"I spent every day sitting in my wheelchair, trapped inside my body, unable to even stand and in terrible pain from almost constant spasms," explains Krieger.
"I had no quality of life. My life was pain and suffering, that's all."
Then another MS sufferer provided him with some marijuana and the relief was almost instant. The spasms stopped and soon Krieger was off of his expensive medications and was walking and driving again.
"My life was saved for a reason. I feel compelled to help others so they won't try to kill themselves," says Krieger, whose trials have seen him win ground-breaking judgments all the way up to the Supreme Court.
Back on Dec. 11, 2000, Alberta Court of Queen's Bench Justice Darlene Acton handed down a landmark ruling in which Krieger won the right to grow and cultivate marijuana.
She placed no limits on how much he could possess or carry and no restrictions on providing pot to other sick individuals.
As she said then, there is an absurdity in the federal law that gives ill Canadians, suffering from severe illness like MS and AIDS, the right to possess marijuana but no legal outlet in which to buy it.
Yes, it's true the feds now make it possible for sick Canadians to buy medicinal marijuana through legal means, but it's almost impossible to find a physician who will prescribe it.
Just another vicious cycle that spins our legal system into disrepute and throws righteous people in jail.
Contact:
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Calgary Sun
