Originally produced for The Red Eye Express, England

The first time I saw Todd McCormick, he was sitting in the middle of a popular, funky art gallery, in Hollywood, smoking a very big joint! It was April of 97' and a new California state law had just passed that I helped to vote in, called proposition 215, which gave patients and their primary care-givers the right to cultivate and use cannabis for medicinal purposes. I thought to myself, "this man must have a prescription, but how could he afford to be so candid? I mean, this is, after all, Hollywood, California. A city swarming with police cars, every where you look." I decided that I had to talk to him.

I walked over and introduced myself. "Hi, my name's Renee." "Todd McCormick, care for a seat?", he asked, gesturing toward a stool at the coffee and tea bar where he was seated. "Thanks", I said and sat down beside him. Todd picked up my sketchbook and began to skim through it. He took another drag from his joint and blew the smoke out proudly, as people passing by drooled and stared in awe. I must admit that I was also pretty intrigued. "People who have the right to smoke marijuana, as I do, should smoke it in public", he said. "The more the general public sees that, the faster they are going to accept the fact that it is medicine, pure and simple." Todd grinned.

Todd went on to explain that he had cancer nine times before the age of ten. The top five vertebrae of his neck are fused. He has one hip the size of the 29-year-old man he is, another hip the size of a ten-year-old--the age he was when bone-cancer radiation stopped that hip from growing. Even if his cancer never returns, the fused vertebrae cut his life expectancy in half. At the end of our conversation he gave me back my sketchbook and asked if I would be interested in doing some illustrations for his book, together with some of the other projects he was dreaming up.

I had just received my Bachelor of Fine Arts degree at Loyola Marymount University. At the time, I was working on some paintings for an art show that I was planning on putting together while waiting on tables by night. I was always happy to be paid to produce art, and agreed to show up for work 2 weeks later at Todd's home in Bel Air.

While working for Todd, I learned a great deal about medical cannabis. Todd's home was like a resource center on cannabis, with books, videos, websites, magazines and live cannabis plants. Todd was conducting research on many different strains of cannabis to determine which strain was most suitable for which illness. He was documenting all of his findings for a book that he was writing, and which he recently finished, called, "How to Grow Medical Marijuana".

I was so excited that California had passed this new law for patients to be able to use their medicine of choice, in peace. I felt like we were on the forefront of change. But, I couldn't have been more wrong!

Upon leaving Todd's home, on July 29, 1997, my friend and I were pulled over to the side of the road by two police officers and asked to step out of the vehicle. We were thrown against the car, handcuffed and read our rights. We were told we were being arrested for the cultivation of marijuana and we were driven to a fire station nearby.

At the fire station there were 60 or more armed DEA officers, dressed in riot gear, ready to raid Todd's home. I was asked tons of questions to which, I had two responses, "I am not going to say anything without talking to a lawyer first and are you aware that proposition 215 just passed, which makes medical marijuana legal in the state of California?" All of the officers claimed not to know what proposition 215 was, and kept trying to persuade me to answer more questions. Finally, they the men threatened to go in shooting if we did not tell them the layout of Todd's home. To this, we cooperated.

Afterwards, I was taken to the Federal prison for Women in downtown Los Angeles, where I was held for 72 hours. During that time, I was not given a phone call, I was visited by officers for more questioning and harassment, I was not given any food and I was strip searched 15 times. Two of these strip searches were done in the presence of male prison guards, who probed their tongues at me and made other rude and degrading gestures and remarks toward me that I do not wish to repeat. It was humiliating! I was also questioned and harassed by police officers and DEA agents while in custody who were trying to instill fear in me and break my spirit in order to get me to answer answer all of their questions and agree to testify against Todd. I did not give in to any of their requests.

When I was released, I was charged with 1) conspiracy, 2) cultivation, 3) intent to distribute and 4) possession of marijuana. I was told I was to attend a hearing in Federal Court.

The next day my name appeared in an article about the bust which made local headlines. My boss saw it, and I was fired from my job waiting tables.

Then, I was placed on probation & had to be on call & visited by a probation officer whenever he wished to stop in on me. I was given random urine tests, my phone was tapped and I was followed around by several under cover DEA agents on a daily basis, wherever I went. It was terrible.

I could not believe my life and the lives of my friends were now turned upside down for something that was legal in the state of California anyway. I was shocked that the Federal Government would just ignore the laws that the people voted in!

I Knew I needed a good lawyer, but I was broke. Then, a miracle happened. A friend of mine picked me up to take me to a reggae concert at the Santa Monica Pier and told me that he wanted me to meet a lawyer who was likely to be interested in representing me. Later that evening, toward the end of the reggae concert, he introduced me to Kenneth Kahn. Kenny told me he would take the case pro-bono, which meant if we won, I would pay him when I could afford to. He further informed me that the reason that the police were following me around was in order to try and get some dirt on me that they could use against me later in court.

I found another job and began helping to organize benefits to raise money for Todd's case as well as that of Peter McWilliams. Peter was a man with AIDS as well as cancer who also had a prescription for medicinal cannabis. The US Prosecutors decided to charge Peter along with Todd, simply because Peter was Todd's publisher, and had given him an advance toward the book.

In October of 97, my charges were dropped. I continued painting while helping to organise benefits and rallies for Todd.

In May of 98, I got a phone call from Kenny Kahn, who said he needed to see me urgently. The next evening I drove to his home to see him. He sat me down and told me that there was a 99% chance that the United States federal government were going to reinstate my charges. He suggested that if I were his daughter, he would tell me to leave the country. He explained that if I stayed, the DEA would harass me in order to try and get me to testify against Todd as well as the others who were involved. In the end, he said, I would probably wind up behind bars serving a mandatory minimum sentence of 10 years or more, anyway.

Leaving the country was the hardest choice I ever had to make! It was extremely difficult to leave my friends, family and entire life behind. I knew that if I made that choice I may NEVER be able to return to the United States again. I searched inside myself and meditated on this for 3 days. Then, on the last day, I thought to myself, "10 years or more in a US prison where I would most likely be abused and sexually assaulted, or freedom in the rest of the world." In the end, I chose freedom.

I decided not to tell any of my friends or family what I was doing because I knew that the US Marshals would surely be visiting them, once they had discovered I was gone. Any knowledge that they withheld could have led to them being charged as conspirators. Instead, I told them I was going on a journey to pursue photography for a while and travel around and see the world and that I would write when I had the chance. I knew, somewhere deep down, that I would not be returning to the United States, so I decided to give away all of my possessions. This was a very difficult, but freeing experience. A real lesson in losing attachments!

In late May, I arrived in Vancouver Canada with a backpack full of clothes, some poetry and a sketchbook. I thought it would be best to lie low. I decided to travel around, explore Canada, and find a place to settle down for a while. I wound up traveling from Vancouver to Montreal, by bus, working at various cash in hand jobs on farms, selling hemp clothing etc.. along the way.

While in Montreal, I got an email from anonymous friend, explaining that there had been bounty hunters combing Canada looking for me and that they, somehow, knew that I was in Montreal. My friend was told, that, If they found me, I would be put in to a US prison for much longer than my 10 year mandatory minimum. I found out later that this is what the US Marshals explained to my family over and over again when they were harassing them and trying to get information out of them as to my whereabouts. I was terrified! I immediately dyed my hair from blonde to red, in an attempt to disguise myself and hopped on a bus heading back to British Columbia.

By the time I got back to the Vancouver area, I was broke, tired, and I didn't know where to turn. I decided to try and find some people involved with medicinal cannabis and ask for their advice. I found some beautiful people who offered me a place to stay in a house with a medical marijuana garden in it. It was being grown for the Vancouver Compassion Club, a club that provides medical marijuana to patients with prescriptions or doctor's recommendations.

On February 15th, 1999 the house was raided by the Royal Canadian Mounted Police and my outstanding warrants in the United States were discovered. I was immediately rushed over to the Supreme Court in Vancouver for a fast-track extradition back to the United States. I called an immigration lawyer in the area named Alex Stojicevich, and luckily he was able to convince the judge to hear my case first before tossing me back to agents of the American Drug War. .

I immediately applied for refugee status in Canada and obtained another lawyer for my extradition matter, named John Conroy. Both Alex and John explained that no one had ever been granted refugee status from the US War on Drugs in Canada, and that this would be a long, difficult and costly fight. I told them I was determined to win and they both agreed to take the case.

As I began to do research on the War on Drugs in the US, I was dumbfounded by what I discovered. The United States War on Drugs is really a war against their own people. The US spends $17 million dollars a day building more prisons. They are shutting down schools and turning them into prisons too. There are over 2 million people behind bars and 1.3 million of them are non-violent, first time offenders. . There is a marijuana arrest every 40 seconds in the US and one in six people in prison are there for marijuana related charges. There were 682,885 marijuana arrests in the US in 1998 and 600,000 of them were for simple possession. According to the Marijuana Policy Project, this is more arrests than for murder, rape, robbery and aggravated assault combined. Prison is one of America's fastest growing industries and they are keeping it going by locking up their own people!

A number of enlightened states have recognized what has been known in many cultures for thousands of years, marijuana is a healing herb, with a tremendous amount of medicinal value. In fact, the US drug czar, General Barry McCaffrey, ordered a study from the Institute of Medicine to determine what is known about marijuana as a medicine, and the resulting reports confirmed that marijuana has some well established medical uses, it does not lead to harder drugs. It's potential for addiction is not significantly serious, and it's side effects are within the range tolerated for other legal medicines.

Marijuana has proven to be effective in stimulating appetite and reducing nausea for patients with AIDS, cancer & anorexia. It is highly effective in controlling tremors in multiple sclerosis, reducing interocular pressure of the eyes in glaucoma sufferers, treating migraine headaches, asthma, depression, alcohol and drug addiction, along with a long list of other medicinal benefits.

Despite the will of the people, the federal government does not recognize California state laws which the people have voted in with regard to medical marijuana. They have begun to convict and sentence sick people who are using marijuana as a medicine, together with those who help them. Those convicted are given horrendously long prison sentences, and are denied the right to bring up medical necessity in court. Despite all the evidence of marijuana's medicinal benefit, doctors who prescribe or recommend medical marijuana to their patients risk losing their license if pursued by the federal government.

Women have also been the target of law enforcement in the United States. Over 80,000 women are currently in prison due to the War on Drugs in the US. Over 200,000 children under the age of 18 are being raised without their mothers. Most of these women are serving long sentences for mere possession. Their husbands or boyfriends who actually committed the crimes, in many instances, serve much shorter sentences. Since the women don't usually have the kind of information to trade for a lesser sentence, they suffer harsher longer sentences than the person who actually headed the illegal activity in most cases. Amnesty International sites the War on Drugs, especially the war on marijuana, as accounting for a five fold increase in female incarceration.

According to Amnesty International, once women are behind bars, things get even uglier. Women are often raped and tortured by male prison guards or sold to male prisoners for sex.. Some are shackled to bedposts while giving birth and they are given seriously inadequate medical care and improper nutrition. In fact, things are so bad that US prison conditions are now being compared to those of 3rd world countries!

At the outset of my legal battle with the US authorities, my main motivation was to save my own life and stay free, but now that my case has begun, it is bringing a lot of attention to the injustices of the US War on Drugs. This legal battle with the United States has not been easy. It is quite a struggle. It would be much easier to change my identity and go on with my life somewhere else. But, I have a unique opportunity with my case and the position that I am in to save, not only my life, but, the lives of many others who are suffering because of this insane war on the people that is now know as the war on drugs.

Right now, I feel that I am a voice for many people who can't be heard because the US Government has either instilled a tremendous amount of fear in them, or locked them up in a cage. I have a chance to speak for the 80,000 women in prison right now and their 200,000 children under the age of 18 who are being raised without their mothers. I have a chance to speak for the thousands of sick people in prison who were only trying to alleviate some of their suffering by using an herb that was given to them... given to us, to use as a medicine.

Cannabis is a sacred herb that deserves to be respected and honored, not demonized. And, I have an opportunity now, to speak for this beautiful plant that also has no voice. I take all of this very seriously because I feel all of it on a very deep level. I want to help all of these people and I want to help this amazing plant.

If I win my case, it will set a precedent, which will mean that other Americans who are being persecuted for marijuana will be able to come to Canada and live in peace. I will do all that I can to take advantage of and bring the highest good that I can to this unique opportunity.

When I made the choice to dedicate my entire being to winning my case and setting this precedent, I gave up a lot of things. I gave up the free time of indulging in my passion... my art, I gave up my social life, and recently, I gave up a relationship that was very meaningful to me. I put this fight above everything in my life, that is how strongly I feel about it and how much I am determined to win.

This journey has also been a financial struggle for me. I am not allowed to work in Canada and rely soley on donations to survive. Every month I am handed an eviction notice and I do not exaggerate. My landlord is quite annoyed with me. I have had my power turned off several times and some days I don't have anything in my refrigerator and am forced to ask people in the community to help feed me. Some how, I have managed to survive. If I am evicted, I will continue my fight. Please don't be fooled by all of the public attention that Todd and Peter's case have gotten in California. The people who are supporting Todd and Peter financially, are not supporting me. I am not living a fancy life. I have worked hard to get my name out there and have my story heard and will continue to do so. I am doing this in order to win my case and help save my life and the lives of thousands of others and I will continue to do so until I win and set this important precedent.

I currently live in British Columbia, where I work full time on my legal battle with the United States Government. In order to stay balanced, healthy and relieve stress, I maintain a vegan diet and eat organically grown produce as much as possible. I also practice yoga, meditation, dance and like to play in many different mediums of art. Whenever I find time, I run in the forest to remind myself how magical and beautiful this planet really is, and how happy I am to be alive and still free in Canada.

On February 9th, Supreme Court Justice, Michael Catliff, decided to surrender me to the United States on all four counts (charges). My lawyer entered an appeal and Catliff granted it, releasing me on $5,000 bail although the DEA wanted a half a million dollars bail. Now I am in the hands of the Canadian Justice Minister, Irwin Cotler who will be making a decision as to whether or not to surrender me to the US authorities, on, or shortly after, April 17th, 2000.

The public has a unique opportunity to help me win this precedent setting case, by writing a letter on my behalf to the Canadian Minister of Justice, Irwin Cotler. The letter should focus on how it would be unjust and oppressive to send me to a prison for 10 years where women are raped and tortured, and how I am being persecuted for my political belief, due to the fact that the US Government is violating their own constitution, by ignoring the state law and prosecuting the people for something that has been made legal by their own state. Make sure to get your letters in by April 17th, 2000. There is a possibility that I may be granted a 45 day extension for the public to get their letters in, so check my website for an update, if you miss the deadline.(http://www.reneeboje.com) I am keeping records of the letters sent, so please send me your letter and I will forward it for you. The letters can be mailed or emailed. Mail to: Renee Boje PO Box 1557 Gibsons, British Columbia V0N1V0

Email to: rboje@hotmail.com

Thank you!
In unity, peace and Love,
Renee Boje

http://www.reneeboje.com

Meanwhile Todd McCormick, Peter McWilliams and 7 other individuals who are being charged in connection with this case were told that they would not be able to bring up medical necessity at their trial. They weren't even allowed to bring up the fact that they had illnesses in court. They were guaranteed to lose their trial and wind up in prison to serve the rigid mandatory minimum of 10 years or more. The US Prosecutors offered them a deal to enter a plea of guilty and have their sentence reduced to 0-5 years. Knowing that they would never be able to win their trial, they all took the deal. Todd chose to enter his plea with a request for an appeal, because at the Supreme Court, patients are allowed to bring up medical necessity and he has a good chance of winning his case. Because of the serious state of his illness, Peter entered a plea without a request for appeal. He does not expect to live for very much longer and would like to live the rest of his life in peace. Obviously the US prosecutors think differently!

Todd McCormick and Peter McWilliams cases are moving through the courts pretty quickly. March 17th was the deadline for submissions (letters pleading for their right to freedom) to Todd and Peter's federal judge. Their sentencing hearing is on March 27th.

Todd plans to appeal the decision and argue his case before the Supreme Court of Canada. If you would like to help him to win, please take the time to write a letter of support. Todd is also keeping records of the letters sent, so please send him your letter and he will forward it for you.

Letters on behalf of Todd McCormick should point out that Todd was growing marijuana for medical research, the findings of which can be found in his book called, "How to Grow Medical Marijuana", which is available for viewing at: http://www.growmedicine.com. Please focus on the fact that he has cancer and a prescription for medical marijuana, which entitles him to grow marijuana under the protection of his own state law. The letters can be mailed or e-mailed. Mail to: Todd McCormick-c/o Tiffany Neumann, 2404 Benedict Canyon, Beverly Hills, CA 90210.

E-mail to: tifilee@excite.com