Police Stop 'Pretty Unusual' For Marijuana Exemptee

[PFlynn]

Derek Pedro's first trip to Hempfest was a "nerve wracking" one.

He says Ontario Provincial Police asked him and Alison Myrden, both federal medical marijuana exemptees, to get out of their truck during a spot check Wednesday.

Their supply of marijuana was weighed.

"It was pretty unusual," Pedro said Sunday at Hempfest.

"To weigh medicine, I've never heard of that."

He and Myrden waited about 45 minutes before being cleared to go.

"It was nerve wracking. You're talking to somebody that's had quite a few experiences, unfortunately, with the law and medical marijuana," he said.

"I just want to be left alone just like anyone else that's sick. But yet wherever I go I'm asked, 'What is it that you have?'"

"It's a little intrusive, but at the same time I want to defend my position so I have to talk about it."

The self-employed handyman has Ehlers-Danlos syndrome. It's a rare genetic disorder that has caused him migranes, joint pain and operations on his knees and shoulders.

He started taking pain medication when he was 14. Pedro was taking 400 Percocet pills a month before he started smoking marijuana in 2004.

"We're exempt from the law, but yet we're persecuted on a daily basis," said Pedro.

"We're sick, but yet we still have to endure stresses - stresses that the average person with a regular prescription doesn't have to go through."

The police check won't stop him from attending Hempfest in 2009.



News Hawk: PFlynn - http://www.420magazine.com/
Source: Sault Star, The (CN ON)
Copyright: 2008 The Sault Star
Contact: ssmstar@saultstar.com
Website: The Sault Star - Ontario, CA