PEOPLE - ERIC BUNNELL
Ray Monteith doesn't even drink coffee.
But though he personally opposes drug use, the provincial Freedom Party's rep in Elgin now holds 20 Victory Bonds bought Friday to help fund a London merchant's challenge of the constitutionality of Canada's drug laws.
Ray handed $500 from party coffers to CHRIS CLAY on Friday during a media event at Clay's shop, Hemp Nation.
He said that makes the Freedom Party the only political party in Canada to support Clay's challenge, which begins today in a London courtroom in connection with drug charges he faces.
In a new essay, Ray says drug abuse is a health and welfare issue, not a crime.
"We must never forget that Canada is supposed to be a free society. We have a Charter of Rights and Freedoms. For that reason alone, Canadians should have the right to use drugs legally, whether you and I like it or not."
(It's a view he also espoused a couple of weeks back as a studio guest on RALPH BENMERGUI's Newsworld talk show.)
If Clay wins, the Freedom Party's 20 bonds will be redeemable for 1/4 ounce of marijuana each.
Ray says the party will donate the certificates to a cancer clinic or for AIDS research.
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last updated on April 28, 2002
