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Safe Haven

Here's a timely story in light of our recent discussions on finding refuge in Canada. The author is anonymous but the story is all too familiar. Just as conscientious objectors to the Vietnam war made Canada their home in the 60s, now we have a new brand of refugee - drug defendants. The article details this man's flight but also offers a practical guide on How to Flee to Canada.

The circumstances behind the flight are inevitably sad.

After that final garage sale, after I'd given away treasured possessions I'd had ever since I was a teenager, I sat in an empty house smoking a bowl of White Widow, contemplating the logistics of fleeing my home country, the United States.

In my backpack was a round-trip ticket to Vancouver, Canada, but I had no intention of using the entire ticket. There would be no return flight to the USA for me. Once I arrived in Canada, I was there to stay.

Difficult decisions

My decision to leave America was complex and bittersweet. It had its genesis in 1998, when I was arrested for growing 28 medical marijuana plants in an indoor grow room at my home.

I'd had sports injuries and surgeries that caused severe pain; marijuana was my best medicine, and I grew it because I could not afford to buy it. Yet even though I lived in California and helped Dennis Peron pass Proposition 215 – the first voter-approved medical cannabis legalization law in the US – I learned during my arrest that American police were a law unto themselves. I found out that the drug war was a real war, and that people like me, even though I had a medical marijuana recommendation from a doctor, could too easily become casualties.

For those who feel they have no choice but to follow in this guy's footsteps there is help.

Two informal organizations have formed to help these reefer refugees. One, based in Toronto, is called the deGaulle Project, named after French General Charles deGaulle who fled France for the safety of England during World War II, returning after the war to help rebuild his country.

Cannabis Culture publisher Marc Emery and activist David Malmo-Levine have also set up a website, called "The Underground Railroad," that offers information for Americans who wanted to flee north.

"We aren't smuggling people across the border," Malmo-Levine explained, "but we are providing information that helps people understand how to get into Canada and stay in."

Marc and David also dispense practical advice on how to deal with leaving your old life behind.

There was talk of "safe houses" and how much money and identification to bring with me when I made the trip north. Malmo-Levine advised me to work through the financial, logistical and emotional issues related to leaving my home country, before I left.

"Once you come over, it's not likely you can get back," he counseled. "You will probably be leaving family and friends behind, as well as assets. You have to be ready to start a new life. Make sure you can handle it. We've had too many cases of Americans coming here and then falling apart because of homesickness and the difficulty of being a pot refugee."

Even if you're not thinking of making Canada your refuge, the article is an interesting read. It goes on to tell the stories of pot refugees that are making it work on the "other side".

[Thanks to Vigilius Haufniensis for the link]