Grant Krieger is a medical marijuana recipient who suffers from multiple sclerosis, but he has admitted to trafficking pot to Manitoba in 2003 and 2005.
Alberta Provincial court Judge William Pepler has ruled that incarceration for his crimes is appropriate for the marijuana activist and has sentenced him to four months in jail.
However, Krieger has stated his case that he had been jailed for similar offenses and his condition got much worse, when he didn't have access to medical marijuana.
As a result, Judge Pepler has delayed Krieger's incarceration until June, so that corrections officials have time to figure out how they will administer the pot to their prisoner.
Pepler does not condone Krieger's actions, saying that he recognizes the constitutional right for him to receive marijuana as medicine to alleviate the pain of his medical condition, but he must comply by the federal government's conditions for gaining access to and using the drug. Above all, medical marijuana users must obey the law.
This is a contentious issue to many people who feel that marijuana is a plant that has side effects which are much less harmful than alcohol. If it helps people feel better when they are sick with cancer or MS, the Canadian government has done the right thing by allowing access to it. I agree with the judge though, that the users of the federal program, must obey the law. Having access does not give them the right to conduct illegal activity.
Whether the laws of this country need to be altered regarding the decriminalization of pot is a further extension of the matter. The Liberal party was making ground along this path, but since the conservatives have been in power, they seem to have been taking two steps backward, or forward, depending on your views on the matter.
