Bellatrix

Medical pot advocate dies

CBC News | Aug 16 2004 05:30 PM PDT

ABBOTSFORD, B.C. - An Abbotsford man who won his legal fight for medical marijuana, has lost his battle against AIDS.

* INDEPTH: Medical marijuana

Wes Winchester died last week of AIDS, after contracting HIV from sharing needles in Toronto in the 1990s.

Winchester moved to B.C. from Toronto, to clean up. He joined Narcotics Anonymous and the Valley Christian Fellowship. And he married a woman from the church.

Having trouble keeping down food or his dozens of daily pills, and not wanting to use harder drugs, Winchester turned to marijuana.

Police raided Winchester's home in 2000, seized 96 plants and charged the 40-year-old with cultivation.

His wife left him during that time, afraid of the police and the stigma of living with a criminal.

Bellatrix; but according to the good folks in Chilliwack, people who get caught growing marijuana get nothing more than a $1200 fine. It's not like they suffer.

* FROM JAN. 9, 2001: AIDS patient fighting for marijuana exemption

After two years of court dates, the B.C. Supreme Court justice stayed the charges because legal changes were expected, and Health Canada exemptions were coming.

Winchester also convinced the court the marijuana he was growing was a life-line for him only – not his cash crop.

Pot activist Brian Carlisle, who helped Winchester in court, says his friend's case is considered a landmark for other terminal patients fighting their drug charges.

For the past two years, Winchester was reunited with his wife and used marijuana to ease the symptoms of his disease.

Bellatrix; Thanks, Wes. Rest in peace.

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