WITHOUT $150,000 FELGER STILL IN JAIL
- Published in the Abbotsford News on 29 Jan 2005

Tim Felger remains in jail three weeks after he was first arrested for marijuana cultivation, trying to scrape up the $150,000 at which his bail has been set.

"I ain't got $150,000, your honour, so I don't think I'm going to make bail," Felger said Thursday morning during a brief court appearance in Abbotsford provincial court for his third set of cultivation charges in three years.

On Monday, Judge Ron Caryer set bail at $150,000.

Among his bail conditions is a proviso allowing a police officer to attend his Bradner Road property unannounced at least two times per month to check for a marijuana grow operation.

Defence Lawyer Dale Pedersen said the condition is "very, very uncommon". "I haven't heard of it before," he said.

Several friends of Felger were in court, including Carol Gwilt, the Vancouver pot cafe operator who was arrested last year.

She's surprised at how high Felger's bail has been set at, and said the condition that officers can show up at his property likely bothers Felger.

"He's just so persecuted," said another woman.

Police say 2,090 pot plants were on the property.

Felger is charged with production of pot, possession of a controlled substance and breach of an undertaking or recognizance and returns to court on Feb. 3 for an arraignment hearing.

He was charged with the same drug offences as well as two weapons offences in 2003.

That case is scheduled to go to trial in April, some six weeks after his trial for January 2002 cultivation charges gets underway.

FELGER ORDERED TO PAY $150,000
- Published in the Abbotsford Times on 25 January 25 2005

Abbotsford's self-proclaimed marijuana activist Tim Felger will have to pay a $150,000 bail to get of out jail and allow Abbotsford police to search his property any time if he is released.

Justice Ronald Caryer imposed the $150,000 bail on Felger during a show cause hearing at Abbotsford provincial court on Monday morning.

Felger, known locally as a marijuana activist, is facing his third charge of marijuana cultivation in three years after a police search of his property on Jan. 6 resulted in the apprehension of 2,090 plants and growing equipment. 25 of those plants were being grown for a Health Canada medical exemptee.

Since Jan. 6, Felger has been in custody at the Fraser Regional Correctional Centre in Maple Ridge.

If the bail is paid, Justice Caryer also ordered Felger to check in with a parole officer once a week, to not have any firearms in his possession, and to allow police to inspect his house and his barn at least twice a month unannounced.

Caryer also imposed a publication ban on the proceedings at the hearing.

Defence Lawyer Dale Pedersen said the bail was higher than he anticipated.

"I think the bail was a bit steep, but Mr. Felger will work toward raising that money. If he can't raise that money, then Judge Caryer may consider reviewing the amount," Dale Pedersen said after the hearing.

Dale Pedersen said he hadn't heard about such stiff conditions before, but added ... "I don't think it was unexpected."

"In fact I was going to suggest something like that, where the police would go in to inspect the property," Dale Pedersen said.

Felger is scheduled for trial on two earlier charges of marijuana cultivation - one is set for March 14 stemming from a raid on his property Jan. 3, 2002, where about 2,982 marijuana plants were seized.

The other trial is scheduled for April 25 as the result of raid on his farm May 30, 2003, after a Crime Stoppers tip and CBC aired a segment in which Felger showed off a marijuana growing operation to a reporter.

Plants and equipment were also confiscated during that search.

Felger, who appeared via video on Monday, is expected to appear in person at an arraignment hearing on Thursday at Abbotsford provincial court.

Dale Pedersen said his client would likely enter a plea to the charges on that day.

FELGER IN CUSTODY AFTER POLICE RAID FINDS POT
- Published in the Abbotsford Times on 14 January 2005

An Abbotsford man who uses marijuana to ease the overpowering nausea he gets from his medications is furious his government-sanctioned source was dismantled in a raid.

He said he will petition the court to get his growing equipment returned.

"How did [the police] get permission to raid a garden licence? The address was given to Health Canada. The police can check on that," he said.

Since last fall, he has held a permit to grow marijuana at the Bradner road property of marijuana activist Tim Felger.

Last Thursday, Felger and another man were arrested at about 9:30 a.m. as they were leaving the property to deliver the pot to the Abbotsford man. He said he had asked them to deliver the medicinal pot to him as his car couldn't make it through the snow.

He says the marijuana, which he inhales as a vapour, controls his nausea and allows him to function normally. He said he now has no source of medication and doesn't want to go to street dealers.

The Abbotsford man grew his own marijuana plants until he was beaten and shocked with a taser by masked attackers in his Chilliwack home last September. No arrests were made in that incident. He said he's too afraid to grow the marijuana himself.

"I have no other avenue. I've tried the government's marijuana, I've tried the pills, and it doesn't work. Where am I supposed to get my medicine?" he said.

During the raid, the Abbotsford police drug squad seized 2,090 plants, along with an undetermined amount of growing equipment.

After the Abbotsford man spent the day of the raid convincing the Crown prosecutors' office to let him get his medical pot, Abbotsford police officers escorted him to Felger's property, he said.

There he was allowed to take 25 plants out of their containers, he said. He said the scene reminded him of his attack.

The police were wearing masks on their face and those lights on their heads - they looked just like the guys who home invaded me" he said.

Felger, a Marijuana Party candidate in the last federal election, remains in custody and will appear in Abbotsford provincial court again for a show cause hearing on Jan. 24.

LIGHTS GO ON FOR MEDICAL MARIJUANA GROWER
- Published in the Chilliwack Progress 26 November 2002

A medical marijuana licence holder got his grow-lights returned yesterday, but not the marijuana plants seized earlier this year by Hope RCMP officers.

Hope RCMP Staff Sgt. Jim Delnea said because marijuana cultivation charges against the individual had been stayed, and after discussions with federal Crown counsel and Department of Justice officials, he decided to return the grow-lights. "There's no law against owning light bulbs, so to speak," he said.

However, the 51 plants seized by police and other items with marijuana residue on them are being withheld pending a decision by Health Canada.

"We are awaiting Health Canada to authorize disposition of those items," Staff Sgt. Delnea said. "The narcotics, the drugs that have been seized, Health Canada has control of those."

It is a long-standing procedure, he said, that any marijuana seized, even where no charges are pending, can only be destroyed with Health Canada's permission. "We never had the arbitrary authority to destroy drugs," he said.

The medical marijuana licence holder went to court last week seeking the return of all the items seized by police. His Defence Lawyer Dale Pedersen said he sees no legal reason why all the seized items can't be released because no forfeiture order was made.

"In my mind, they should all be released," Dale Pedersen said.

The licence holder, who received the licence to grow medical marijuana from Health Canada on Sept.9, said he feels vindicated by the decision. "It shows obviously I was in the right," he said.

LICENCED TO GROW MARIJUANA
- Published in Chilliwack Progress on 13 September 2002

A Chilliwack man got a licence to grow and possess marijuana for medical purposes this week, more than a year after he first applied for an exemption - now called a licence - more than a year ago.

An American pot activist, Steve Kubby, currently seeking refugee status in Canada, was granted a similar medical marijuana licence last week.

The Chilliwack man says he expects that granting the exemption to an American citizen is going to give Canadian applicants "leverage" at Health Canada. "I think it will encourage a lot of Canadians who have given up," he says.

He attributes his long wait for an exemption to "a lot of bad doctors who were ignoring my very serious symptoms."

A spokesperson for the B.C. Medical Association says there are no hard and fast rules for doctors who are asked to approve patients' applications for exemptions in this province.

The Chilliwack man, who opened a marijuana "compassion" club in Chilliwack last month, says he intends to start using his licence in public at the new courthouse café. The Holy Smoke Healing Center Society, located just a block away from the new Chilliwack courthouse, now has about 40 members, 26 of whom already possess extended medical marijuana exemptions.

"I want the public to start becoming familiar with licenced people, become aware that we are a reality and we're not going away." he says. "I am going to have my meds and a caramel macchiato at high noon and at 4:20 pm" a time he says is an "international symbol" for after-work users of marijuana.

The licence issued allows him to grow his own marijuana, which he says, means he no longer has to break the law and risk arrest for buying pot from illegal sources.

"I can finally say good-bye to the black market, once and for all, " he says. "My family has lived in fear and danger every day for almost nine years. Now I can finally put that to rest."

A marijuana trafficking charge against him was stayed earlier this year by a provincial court judge, and a cultivation charge stemming from the same incident was stayed yesterday.

LIFE & DEATH MEDICAL MARIJUANA CASE DELAYED
- Published in the Chilliwack Progress 8 August 2002

A 'life and death' request for a court-ordered medical marijuana exemption was adjourned for two weeks by a B.C. Supreme Court Justice in Chilliwack Tuesday.

Justice Robert Hunter also refused to order an interim exemption for Steve Kubby.

Mr Kubby is a U.S. marijuana activist who claims the drug is the only thing that has kept him from dying of cancer.

"Without an exemption to allow Mr. Kubby to use medical marijuana, in my submission it will endanger his life," Defence Lawyer Dale Pedersen told the court.

"If he's not allowed to use medical marijuana, his adrenal glands are going to start pumping adrenaline into his system - and even a minimal amount could kill him," said Dale Pedersen.

But federal crown counsel Peter Kennedy suggested the two-week adjournment to Aug. 19 would not affect Mr. Kubby's health, according to medical evidence submitted to the court, and that he would not in any case be "deprived" of his marijuana.

"There's nothing about use affected (by the adjournment)," he said.

But Dale Pedersen said his client, already charged with growing marijuana in his Sechelt home, does not have a "stable source" and the court delay would force him to obtain the drug illegally - and possibly be arrested again.

"I'm not sure if the Crown is condoning (the illegal purchase)," Dale Pedersen said.

This is the second adjournment requested by the federal Crown since the case came to the Chilliwack court last month.

Mr. Kennedy in his submission for the adjournment also noted the defendant's legal status in Canada has not yet been determined. Mr. Kubby, a 55-year-old California resident, moved to Canada in May 2001 and is now seeking political refugee status here.

Justice Hunter refused to order the exemption Tuesday, or to grant an interim order as requested by Mr. Kubby's lawyer. "I'm not prepared to make that order today," he said.

"You're putting my husband's life in danger," Michelle Kubby, angrily told the Justice, whose decision was made before her husband and a small group of supporters had returned to the courtroom.

"The court told me to go out and break the law for two weeks," Mr. Kubby said later outside the courtroom. "I'm astounded by that."

He said marijuana compassion clubs do not stock enough of the drug to meet his needs of nearly one pound per month. In April police seized 154 plants growing in his Sechelt home, which led to his arrest.

A Chilliwack man, who is also seeking a medical marijuana exemption, and recently opened the Holy Smoke Healing Center Society compassion club in downtown Chilliwack, was also not in the courtroom when his case was adjourned to Sept.3.

But earlier he sat in the courtroom, grim-faced and choking back tears, after a spectator outside had accused him of faking his medical condition.

The Chilliwack man, who has been seeking a marijuana exemption from Health Canada for nearly two years, said he was recently informed his condition is now terminal.

"THEY'LL HAVE TO GIVE IT BACK EVENTUALLY"
- Published in the Vancouver Sun, October 09, 2002

A Chilliwack man had hoped to make Canadian history Tuesday by going to the Hope RCMP detachment and picking up 51 marijuana plants and four grow lights that had been seized in a drug raid.

He recently received approval from the federal government to grow and possess up to 1,875 grams of pot for medicinal purposes.

Defence Lawyer Dale Pedersen, had received a phone call from the Hope RCMP's exhibit custodian saying they could come and pick up the items seized in the raid, including the plants, lights, a small container of pot and a pot pipe. The Chilliwack man said he believes the return of the plants would be the first time the RCMP had returned pot plants to growers.

But when he showed up with a group of supporters and several members of the media Tuesday morning, he was told the release of the material had to be okayed through Health Canada, which might take a day or two. He was dismayed that his 15-month ordeal over the plants had been extended.

"Justice delayed is justice lost, I feel," he said. "I know they'll have to give it back eventually. I just can't believe they're delaying this another hour, day, minute. It's absurd. It's immoral. And it's going to change."

Hope RCMP Staff Sergeant Jim Delnea said police tried to contact the Chilliwack man Tuesday morning to tell him there were further complications before he would receive his pot back, but he was already en route to the police station. Sgt. Delnea said that given the nature of the exhibits to be returned, he wanted to make sure of the process before releasing them.

"This is a new area that we're into, and before I end up making a decision as detachment commander on returning those exhibits, I'll make sure that Health Canada gives us appropriate guidance," he said. "There's lots of questions to be asked. We are talking to our department of justice prosecutor to see what their position is on it, as well as Health Canada."

The Chilliwack man said he smokes high-grade marijuana every day to deal with a number of ailments, including HIV, hepatitis C, glaucoma and chronic pain. He applied for a licence to grow medicinal marijuana for his own use in 1999, and got approval to do so Sept. 9, 2002. He was growing pot in a friend's shed in Hope when the police raided the operation and seized the plants and grow lights in July, 2001.

With his supply of marijuana cut off, he founded the Holy Smoke Healing Center marijuana compassion club in Chilliwack to supply the needs of medicinal marijuana users like himself.

He said he has spent up to $537 in one day on the high-grade pot that he needs for his ills.

He said he expects his pot plants to be dead when he gets them back. If so, he said he may sue the RCMP over their loss.

UNCONSTITUTIONAL REGULATIONS
Published in the Chilliwack Progress September 3, 2002

An American seeking refugee status in Canada was granted a medical exemption last week to grow and use marijuana for medical purposes by Health Canada.

But a Chilliwack resident, who is a Canadian citizen, has so far been denied a similar exemption, despite being in a higher patient category and despite filing his application earlier.

"If we don’t get it today, that’s it," he says. "We go to court Tuesday and ask to get the regulations thrown out."

"Obviously those regulations aren’t working if a category one person can get approved in three to four weeks," he adds.

U.S. Pot activist Steve Kubby was issued an exemption by Health Canada for a category 3 illness - chronic and long-term on Thursday. The Chilliwack man's application is for category one terminal patients with 12 months to live. Applications for both categories require doctors’ approvals.

"Almost three weeks have passed and his condition is deteriorating rapidly," Defence Lawyer Dale Pedersen says in a letter to the Office of Cannabis Medical Access. "In my opinion, in light of the urgency, the delay ... is simply unacceptable."

Dale Pedersen says he will ask the B.C. Supreme Court to strike down the regulations for medical marijuana as unconstitutional.

The exemption granted Mr. Kubby allows him to grow 59 marijuana plants, possess & travel with 360 grams, and store 2,655 grams. The exemption is for one year.

Mr. Kubby’s wife, Michele Kubby, says the Health Canada program "still has too many hoops for sick people to jump through" but should serve as a model to U.S. lawmakers.