September 2, 1998

By Jeremy Mercer, The Ottawa Citizen

POLICE BUST AIDS PATIENT WHOSE DOCTORS ADVISED POT USE

A Vanier man with AIDS who smokes marijuana on the advice of his doctors was marched out of his house with his wife and 12-year-old son -- hands on their heads—and arrested shortly before midnight Monday.

The Ottawa-Carleton police regional drug unit charged Jean-Charles Pariseau with drug possession and production yesterday following the arrest. It is the second time in the past year that Mr. Pariseau, 31, has been charged with marijuana use and cultivation.

"When they came for me, I said ‘Oh no, not again,’ " Mr. Pariseau said from his home yesterday. "I don’t know why they bother me again. I only use it myself and I need it to live."

Mr. Pariseau’s case received national attention after his first arrest. In November 1997, a group of doctors and lawyers filed a ground-breaking application to the federal government asking that he be allowed to use marijuana because it was prolonging his life.

Members of the drug unit, backed by the Ottawa-Carleton police tactical unit, telephoned Mr. Pariseau when they arrived at his St. Denis Street home in Vanier Monday night. They told him to leave the house with his wife, Sylvie, and their 12-year-old son with their hands on their heads in surrender.

Mr. Pariseau was handcuffed and taken to the police station, where he was formally charged. He was allowed to go home shortly before 4 a.m. yesterday.

"I don’t know how much more I have to go through," Mr. Pariseau said as he gave a tour of the small backyard garden where he grew his marijuana. "Now I have to buy it from the street again. It’s not what I like to do."

Officers from the drug unit say they didn’t realize who Mr. Pariseau was or his condition when they made the arrest, but they say they are now treating him with sympathy.

"We have shown him quite a lot of compassion and will continue to do so," said Det. Loch Bisaillion. "But until the law changes, we have to enforce it as it is."

Det. Bisaillion said police received an anonymous tip that the resident at 379 St. Denis St., Mr. Pariseau’s house, was growing drugs. There was no evidence that Mr. Pariseau was selling the drugs, according to Det. Bisaillion.

He said that once police were made aware of his condition, Mr.

Pariseau was allowed to go home instead of spending the night in custody.

Mr. Pariseau is to appear in Ottawa court Sept. 18 to face the latest drug charges. He goes to trial in Hull court on Oct. 14 on drug charges stemming from when he lived in Hull last year and the RCMP raided his apartment.

Mr. Pariseau’s marijuana odyssey began in 1996 when the AIDS virus, which he acquired from sharing needles in the early 1980s, began to take its toll on his body.

The roughly 30 pills Mr. Pariseau was taking every day to fight the virus made him nauseous and destroyed his appetite. By October 1996, Mr. Pariseau, who at 5 foot 2 once weighed 115 pounds, had dropped to a gaunt 82 pounds. Doctors gave him three months to live.

Desperate, Mr. Pariseau tried marijuana on the advice of a friend. He was astonished when he felt his nausea subside and his appetite return.

When Mr. Pariseau told his physician, Dr. Don Kilby, about the effects of the marijuana, he was told to keep on smoking. The increased appetite meant Mr. Pariseau could take his medication, giving his treatment a chance of working, Dr. Kilby said at the time.

With steady marijuana use, Mr. Pariseau’s weight shot up to 125 pounds, where it remains today.

Dr. Kilby is still Mr. Pariseau’s doctor, but could not be reached for reaction yesterday because he was vacationing abroad.

After getting the thumbs-up from his doctor in late 1996, Mr. Pariseau began growing marijuana in his own apartment so he wouldn’t have to buy it from street dealers. Last October, he was raided by the RCMP and charged.

When Mr. Pariseau’s plight became known, Dr. Kilby, Dr. Michele Brill-Edwards, and Ottawa lawyers Eugene Oscapella and Glenn Gilmour, applied to Health Canada to allow him marijuana under a special drug access program. The program allows doctors to request immediate approval of drugs not authorized under the Food and Drug Act if the patient is in an emergency situation.

That application was denied.

With no legal access to marijuana, Mr. Pariseau moved to Vanier and began growing marijuana in his backyard so he could continue to smoke.

That came to an end early yesterday morning when police raided his house.