An American woman living on the Sunshine Coast says she fears she'll
become the next victim in her country's war on drugs if she's forced
back south of the border.
Twenty-nine-year-old Renee Boje, who is currently keeping a low
profile on the Sunshine Coast, is facing deportation to California where
she's wanted on several federal charges related to the cultivation of
marijuana. But she says she's an innocent pawn caught in a political
game between the zero tolerance federal Drug Enforcement Agency and
California state where medical pot use is legal, and she's asking for
help to mount an expensive legal campaign to win her refugee status in
Canada.
"I am hoping that Canada will provide me a safe haven, as it did for
the conscientious objectors to the Vietnam War," she said in an
interview.
Troubles began for the soft spoken woman in 1997 when she started work
for Todd McCormick, a well-known medical marijuana advocate in
California. An artist by trade, Boje said she was hired to do free-lance
artwork for a magazine McCormick was putting together to promote his
cause.
In July of that year she was arrested along with McCormick and seven
others at the house in a DEA raid and charged with conspiracy to
cultivate marijuana, posession, and intent to distribute.
Boje strongly denies all the charges.
In October she says her lawyer told her the matters against her had
been dropped and she went travelling across Canada, ending up in Roberts
Creek last month. There she was again picked up in a pot bust at a house
on Leek Road.
"I was at the wrong place at the wrong time again," she said.
Though she wasn't charged criminally in the Roberts Creek case, police
did discover an outstanding warrant against her in California relating
to the 1997 charges. She was taken into the custody of Canadian
Immigration. She has since been released on a $5000.00 bond and faces an
extradition hearing April 19.
So far, Boje has received support from friends and sympathizers on the
Sunshine Coast. The case has also been taken up by the B.C. Compassion
Club Society, a non-profit Vancouver group that supports the leglization
of marijuana for medicinal purposes. Club founder Hilary Black called
Boje a "handy pawn" in the U.S. federal government's bid to bust the
likes of Todd McCormick, whom they see as a kind of drug lord.
"It's because they're quite keen on Todd, that's why they want her so
badly," Black said.
The Compassion Club has provided Boje with two lawyers - one to deal
with her criminal matters, a second for immigration. And, they are
planning some fundraising events to cover the legal costs.
