UPDATE: Man Has To Take His Legal Medicine

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A Cumberland County man who says he has a cure for cancer urged a judge to jail him immediately after he was convicted Tuesday of possessing and producing marijuana and trafficking the drug’s active ingredient.

"Lock me up now because I’m just going to go back to treating people. I will grow the plant and make the hemp oil and I am going to help my patients until the day I die," Ricky Logan Simpson, 57, who is from the Maccan area, told Justice Felix Cacchione moments after the jury’s verdict.

The judge declined, saying he needed a presentence report and input from Crown attorney Monica MacQueen.

"You have also complied with all the conditions of your bail . . . and I will not revoke bail at this time," Justice Cacchione added.

Outside court, Ms. MacQueen had little to say about the verdict, which the jury took three hours to decide following a six-day trial. Sentencing is Nov. 30 — Mr. Simpson’s birthday.

Mr. Simpson, who faces a maximum of seven years on the production charge and five years for possession for trafficking, expressed surprise at the verdict, saying in an interview the jury lacked common sense.

"The fact they cannot see that what I am doing is right means there is something wrong with them. I thought they could see what a corrupt law it is, that they would bring out a not guilty (verdict) and welcome the medicine. They didn’t do that. Instead they did nothing to stop this idiotic law."

He again vowed to continue growing marijuana, making hemp oil out of it and using it to treat people with diseases ranging from cancer to psoriasis, arthritis and diabetic ulcers.

"They still have my still and I want it back to continue my work," he said.

Mr. Simpson was charged with possessing less than 30 grams of marijuana, possessing less than three kilograms of tetrahydrocannabinol (THC) for trafficking and producing marijuana. THC is the main ingredient in the drug.

He was charged following an August 2005 RCMP raid on his Little Forks Road property. Police seized equipment associated with marijuana grow-ops, like the still Mr. Simpson wants back, and scales. It also netted 1,190 plants that a police expert said would create 83,300 grams of smokable marijuana and would take a heavy individual more than 76 years to smoke.

The jury heard testimony from Mr. Simpson, but not from several of his so-called patients because the judge ruled their claim that Mr. Simpson’s oil had cured them was hearsay and irrelevant to the case.

Mr. Simpson admitted to possessing marijuana, growing it on his property and giving the oil he made from it to sick people for free.

He testified he could not access the federal medical marijuana program because his doctor did not consider it an option for treating his post-concussion syndrome. As a result he was forced to grow the marijuana and make his own oil outside of the program.

While the jury was out, Mr. Simpson issued a release calling on the Harper government to stop restricting Canadians’ access to medicinal marijuana.

"I am asking Canadians to get behind me and my cause. Help us bring an end to this madness that has caused so many to suffer and die needlessly."

Mr. Simpson said that as a result of his legal battles he has brought marijuana’s medicinal value to the forefront for all Canadians.

"The law can hide hemp’s medicinal powers no longer," the release said.

He accused the federal government, pharmaceutical companies, the police and the media with covering up the medicinal value of marijuana through misinformation because they don’t want his cheaply made medicine on the market.

"Many people . . . have been exposed to this misinformation for so long they believe it is true, without doing their due diligence and researching other sources," Mr. Simpson said. "To these people all I can say is, wake up and smell the hemp."

He calls his marijuana oil Phoenix Tears, saying he is willing "to put our hemp oil against any pharmaceutical drug for any disease . . . (because) we have seen it cure or control many diseases, even cancer."



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Source: NovaScotiaNews.com
Author: TOM McCOAG
Contact: tmccoag@herald.ca
Copyright: 2007 The Halifax Herald Limited
Website: Nova Scotia News - TheChronicleHerald.ca