AFFIDAVIT PLAINTIFF TO ACTION T-1805-98
Reverend Brother John Allen West
#8 Arthur’s Road RR#1
Hornby Island
British Columbia V0R 1ZO
CanadaI, John Allen West, do make Oath and Swear the following is true.
(1) I am 63 years of age, a British Subject, Landed Immigrant, and Resident in Canada since Oct. 1959.
(2) From June 1960 until June 1965 I was employed as a Sound Effects Technician and Film Sound Recordist for the CBC. I went Freelance as a Writer/Director from 1965 until 1972.
(3) In 1970, while researching a story on the youth Hippie culture, I was encouraged by a couple of my associates, one a Practicing Lawyer, the other a UBC professor, to overcome my reluctance and try Cannabis, to gain a better understanding of the “head space” of young people.
(4) From an early age, I had been a member of the Anglican Church and by the time I came to Canada, I considered myself a serious student of comparative religion. After a number of ineffective attempts to get “high”, while in the company of a group of friends (all members of the Vancouver Symphony Orchestra), I experienced a profound shift in mental awareness.
(5) I continued my social use of the Herb at parties which often included Members of the R.C.M.P., the Medical profession, and Lawyers. I discovered however that the effects were less pleasurable when used with alcohol so I discontinued my use of alcohol. I have not used alcohol since that time.
(6) When used in private and in a prayerful manner, I discovered the Herb has Sacramental Properties.
(7) I investigated the history of the Plant, and discovered from my late father, that my grandfather had used it for his asthma, and as a Huntsman in the West country of England he was familiar with it’s use by the Gentry. It is also of interest that my grandfather was a well known “Way side preacher” of his day.
(8) With the corrupt Nixon Administration and the hardening attitudes of the Reagan period, the number of arrests for the use of this God- given Herb among my neighbor’s children increased dramatically. Also it’s use became more covert, with the arrival of the “war on drugs”.(9) The Continued Prohibition of the plant is now widely seen to be what it always has been: a Commercial Conspiracy to The Advantage of the Fossil Fueled Pharmaceutical Cartel of the United States supported in a self- serving way by the Police the Legal profession and sadly the Courts of this country.
(10) This is without Question a God-given plant with sacramental, medical and forest saving, carbon dioxide fixing properties, which may indeed reverse the planet’s atmospheric and environmental destruction.
(11) From 1972 until early in 1977, I wrote numerous times to Health Ministers, Attorneys Generals and Prime Ministers, also to the Press. I was never published. I certainly never received anything like a rational answer. So I decided to plant 42 plants (one for each year of my life ) in the front garden as an act of civil disobedience, to alert the authorities to this gross miscarriage of justice.
(12) August 9th, 1977, I was arrested and charged with Cultivation. I was forced to defend myself as all my Lawyer “friends” had distanced themselves as soon as I “came out” publicly on the issue. I was found guilty in a jury trial in which his Honour required the jury to ignore my “Proselytizing”. I served 60 days of a 90-day sentence with a year's probation.
(13) I Appealed to the Supreme Court of Canada (Application to Appeal - 15469). In spite of my best efforts I was shouted down by the Chief Justice, Mr. Borra Laskin, who, as I understood from Mon. Boudreau, the Deputy Registrar of the time, had not read my presentation. I have included for this Courts’ information a copy of this presentation in support of my Application to Appeal.
(14) From the time that I first began to be a spokesperson for the decriminalization of this most sacred herb I have been exposed to threats from not only the Police, but from organized criminals who profit from the continued prohibition. On one occasion, my home was invaded by a so-called "enforcer".
(15) As a result of my commitment to the cause of decriminalization, the Church of the Universe has kindly honored me with Ordination #4269 and the title of Reverend Brother. I have included Documents which show, due to continued police harassment, the impossibility of creating anything like public Congregational Worship.
All of the above is respectfully submitted in support of this Action by the Church.
Reverend Brother John Allen West