American
Woman Indicted For "Conspiring" With Todd McCormick Seeks Asylum In Canada
WAR ON DRUGS HAS WOMAN IN HIDING
From The Coast Independent
British Columbia
March 15, 1999indy@sunshine.net
By Darah Hansen
(Marijuananews note: I met Renee at Todd McCormick’s. She is
a very good person, and it is heartbreaking to see her a victim of the current insanity.
When there was originally just a simple cultivation case against Todd, the Feds did not
charge her. However, when they decided to escalate it into a "conspiracy" case
involving Peter McWilliams, they indicted Renee. This means that she – and everyone
else, even those peripherally involved – will be charged with cultivating thousands
of plants and will be subject to a minimum of ten years in prison.
It will be interesting to see if Canada declines to extradite her. At some point in the
divergence of our marijuana laws, it will happen. I am afraid that things might not have
progressed to that point --yet.
However, the analogy to the Vietnam era, when Canada sheltered conscientious objectors
is morally apt.)
See
Todd McCormick
Remains Free On $500,000 Bond; Hearing Scheduled For December 14
and links
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.
See
Vancouver Compassion
Club Featured In 2 Stories
"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.
Note: Chris Clay has set up a website for this WOD victim with more details, including
information on her Legal Defense Fund at: http://www.thecompassionclub.org/renee/
Supported