Don Pio is authorized to smoke marijuana, and he wants every sheriff and police officer in B.C. to leave him alone.
Six months after his arrest for carrying pot into the Kelowna Law Courts, the 35-year-old Kelowna man is suing the provincial sheriffs service and the RCMP. He claims authorities humiliated him and made him suffer by depriving him of his medicine.
Pio is allowed to light up to control his nausea, and he wants people in uniform to stop harassing him, he said.
"I want the peace and freedom that come with having an authorization card, and access to my medication when I want it without having to deal with obnoxious security guards who are wasting my time by calling the RCMP when I'm not doing anything wrong."
Pio has a medical condition that requires him to smoke pot every half-hour or so to control his shaking and nausea.
He had marijuana on his breath when he followed his wife into the courthouse in November. Staff smelled it and alerted the sheriffs, who made him empty his pockets. He showed them a dozen joints and a medical-marijuana licence that Health Canada had granted him based on his doctor's prescription.
The sheriffs handcuffed him, put him in a van and drove him to the RCMP detachment. He vomited there for about an hour as officers checked the card's validity. An officer apologized and released him with his marijuana.
Since then, police officers and security guards have chastised Pio for "medicating" in public, he said. He's authorized to use marijuana anywhere people smoke cigarettes.
"I'm not doing it to offend anybody or cause grief. I'm doing it because I don't want to take morphine or Percocet," he said. "I want them to realize there have to be changes made. I'm not going until changes are done."
Pio claims he suffered bruising, anxiety and excessive vomiting during his November arrest. He's suing for his injuries, lost wages, loss of earning capacity and other damages.
He wants the RCMP and sheriffs to receive training so they treat legitimate marijuana users appropriately, he said.
The next step is to open a dialogue with authorities, said Pio's lawyer, Claire Abbott, who filed the writ with B.C. Supreme Court in Vernon.
"We want to ensure this kind of thing doesn't happen again," she said. "He requires medication to control his symptoms. Preventing him from doing so puts him in harm's way."
The case is one of the first of its kind in Canada. About 4,800 Canadians carry a medical-marijuana exemption licence. As many as 200 live in the Okanagan, said Scott McCluskey, a licensee in Kelowna who advocates for others like him in the Valley.
"In the nine years this program has operated, no sheriff's department or police force has engaged in any training on how to recognize these licences," he said.
No one from the B.C. Sheriff Service or the Attorney General's Ministry would comment on the lawsuit because it's before the courts and any comments could become part of the court proceeding, said spokeswoman Linda Mueller.
The ministry said in November it was working to prevent future misunderstandings. Court Services was to advise all sheriffs in B.C. to contact Health Canada directly "so we can avoid this happening again," said spokesman David Townsend.
Calls to RCMP Supt. Bill McKinnon were not immediately returned Wednesday.
NewsHawk: Ganjarden: 420 MAGAZINE
Source: Penticton Herald
Author: DON PLANT
Copyright: 2010 The Okanagan Valley Group of Newspapers
* Thanks to MedicalNeed for submitting this article
Six months after his arrest for carrying pot into the Kelowna Law Courts, the 35-year-old Kelowna man is suing the provincial sheriffs service and the RCMP. He claims authorities humiliated him and made him suffer by depriving him of his medicine.
Pio is allowed to light up to control his nausea, and he wants people in uniform to stop harassing him, he said.
"I want the peace and freedom that come with having an authorization card, and access to my medication when I want it without having to deal with obnoxious security guards who are wasting my time by calling the RCMP when I'm not doing anything wrong."
Pio has a medical condition that requires him to smoke pot every half-hour or so to control his shaking and nausea.
He had marijuana on his breath when he followed his wife into the courthouse in November. Staff smelled it and alerted the sheriffs, who made him empty his pockets. He showed them a dozen joints and a medical-marijuana licence that Health Canada had granted him based on his doctor's prescription.
The sheriffs handcuffed him, put him in a van and drove him to the RCMP detachment. He vomited there for about an hour as officers checked the card's validity. An officer apologized and released him with his marijuana.
Since then, police officers and security guards have chastised Pio for "medicating" in public, he said. He's authorized to use marijuana anywhere people smoke cigarettes.
"I'm not doing it to offend anybody or cause grief. I'm doing it because I don't want to take morphine or Percocet," he said. "I want them to realize there have to be changes made. I'm not going until changes are done."
Pio claims he suffered bruising, anxiety and excessive vomiting during his November arrest. He's suing for his injuries, lost wages, loss of earning capacity and other damages.
He wants the RCMP and sheriffs to receive training so they treat legitimate marijuana users appropriately, he said.
The next step is to open a dialogue with authorities, said Pio's lawyer, Claire Abbott, who filed the writ with B.C. Supreme Court in Vernon.
"We want to ensure this kind of thing doesn't happen again," she said. "He requires medication to control his symptoms. Preventing him from doing so puts him in harm's way."
The case is one of the first of its kind in Canada. About 4,800 Canadians carry a medical-marijuana exemption licence. As many as 200 live in the Okanagan, said Scott McCluskey, a licensee in Kelowna who advocates for others like him in the Valley.
"In the nine years this program has operated, no sheriff's department or police force has engaged in any training on how to recognize these licences," he said.
No one from the B.C. Sheriff Service or the Attorney General's Ministry would comment on the lawsuit because it's before the courts and any comments could become part of the court proceeding, said spokeswoman Linda Mueller.
The ministry said in November it was working to prevent future misunderstandings. Court Services was to advise all sheriffs in B.C. to contact Health Canada directly "so we can avoid this happening again," said spokesman David Townsend.
Calls to RCMP Supt. Bill McKinnon were not immediately returned Wednesday.
NewsHawk: Ganjarden: 420 MAGAZINE
Source: Penticton Herald
Author: DON PLANT
Copyright: 2010 The Okanagan Valley Group of Newspapers
* Thanks to MedicalNeed for submitting this article
