Vancouver, March 4, 1999 -- U.S.
citizen Renee Danielle Boje, 29, has made
a rare application for refugee status, stating
she fears she will suffer cruel and unusual
punishment if she is extradited to the
United States
In July of 1997, Boje was doing some free
lance art work, at the Bel Air, California
home of medicinal marijuana advocate and
cancer patient Todd McCormick.
Following a roadside search, she was
arrested by the U.S. Drug Enforcement
Agency. She was charged with conspiracy
to cultivate, possession of, and intent to
distribute marijuana. An hour later, the
DEA raided McCormick's home, arresting him and seven other individuals and
charging them with similar offenses.
Boje was held for 72 hours at the Federal Corrections Facility for Women in
downtown Los Angeles, during which time she was strip-searched an
astounding 15 times. Two of the searches were done in the presence of male
officers who made lewd and threatening remarks.
Boje strongly denies any wrong-doing. The marijuana was grown under
license for medical research, and was legal under Proposition 215 of California
State Law. Proposition 215 ensures that patients and their primary caregivers,
residing in California, who cultivate, obtain, and use marijuana for medical
purposes upon the recommendation of a physician, are not subject to criminal
prosecution or sanction. To Boje's knowledge, the charges against her were
dropped in October 1997.
On February 15, Boje was arrested at the site of a medicinal marijuana garden
in Gibsons, B.C. While in custody, a routine RCMP check revealed that the
U.S. charges had been reinstated, without her knowledge, in June 1998.
Although not charged with any crime in Canada, Boje was taken by the
RCMP to Immigration with an order to be removed from Canada. At this
point Boje made a refugee claim. She was released on $5,000.00 bond.
The following day, just minutes before her Refugee Inquiry hearing, Boje was
arrested outside the courtroom by RCMP Special Agents and rushed to the
Supreme Court in Vancouver for fast track extradition to the United States.
The matter was postponed until April 19, when her extradition hearing will
take place in Vancouver. Boje was released on $5,000.00 surety bond.
Boje's worst fears are further physical abuse and humiliation at the hands of
U.S. authorities, and the extreme severity of current U.S. federal penalties for
marijuana-related offenses. A conviction for just one of the charges against her
carries a mandatory minimum of ten years in a federal penitentiary. In Canada,
punishment for a similar offense would result in a fine and /or a minimal jail
term.
"I am personally committed to the issue of medicinal uses of herbs, including
marijuana. I am hoping that Canada will provide me a safe haven, as it did for
the conscientious objectors to the Viet Nam War."
A Legal Defense Fund is being established along with a growing movement
involving individuals committed to keeping Renee in Canada until the charges
against her in the U.S. have been dropped, or when the marijuana laws of the
U.S. reflect the reality of the times and the benefits of this medicinally healing
herb.
