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IQALUIT
Medical marijuana crusader Ed deVries, who ran drug operations that sold $2 million worth of marijuana over 10 years, pleaded guilty May 24 to two drug charges and six child sexual abuse charges.

The guilty pleas are the result of a deal that saw the Crown stay many other charges, including child pornography and sexual exploitation.

Chief Justice Robert Kilpatrick spent the entire day listening to sentencing arguments. Then he said he needs more time to examine precedents before deciding how long deVries, 53, will spend in prison.

A written decision is expected before June 6.

Pleading his case for leniency, deVries' voice wavered as he apologized to his three victims for sexual assaults that occurred from 2003 to 2010.

"I have deep remorse for the shameful behaviour that caused these charges," said deVries, who pleaded guilty to four counts of sexual assault and two counts of sexual interference with a person under 16. "The girls deserve better and they are blameless in this. I acted selfishly and shamefully. This is something I won't do again, but I need some help and counselling. I am open to treatment and am anxious to have it."

Paraphrasing a victim impact statement from one of the girls, Crown prosecutor Jeanette Gevikoglu said "she says she wants to forget about this and move on with her life."

Heading into the plea, deVries faced 41 charges, including seven counts of drug possession, one of drug trafficking, four of possessing property obtained through crime, one of trafficking of property obtained through crime, one count of child pornography, eight counts of sexual interference with a minor, two of sexual exploitation, and 14 sexual assault charges relating to alleged incidents in Iqaluit and Iglulik over the last decade.

DeVries' activities were the target of three drug raids by police: on the Church of the Universe sanctuary at his home in August 2009; on the Qikiqtaaluk Compassion Society, a medicinal marijuana society, in January 2010; and on his home in September 2011.

With a prior record including drug offences and money laundering, deVries first drew RCMP attention during the operation of his church, court heard. Once they had cause to raid the home, they found a business-like office, which had a whiteboard listing what drugs were presently available. They seized marijuana, hashish, cannabis capsules, hashish vials, and other materials and paperwork.

Invoices seized from the August 2009 raid showed deVries had paid a medical marijuana store in B.C. $148,000 for 21 kg of marijuana in a two-month span.

After his release from jail on conditions not to engage in this activity, deVries changed his operation to the compassion society, which had territorial society status under the Nunavut Societies Act. When RCMP raided the society, they found a whiteboard listing current stock, noting a 10 gram purchase limit. While there was no membership fee, members could get one gram of marijuana for $15; elders and palliative care patients were charged $7 per gram, only slightly more than the $6.61 it cost deVries to supply the drugs.

Despite this, the society made an annual profit of $679,842 on marijuana sales alone, Gevikoglu said. That did not factor in overhead or wages, which totaled $6,000 per week.

DeVries supplied medical marijuana at or near cost to help Nunavummiut in pain cope, he testified. While he had a licence for medical marijuana, few of his society members did, Gevikoglu noted.

That's because Nunavut's doctors are told not to prescribe marijuana, deVries said. At his society, deVries took people on their word, defence lawyer Alison Crowe said.

DeVries had planned to launch a constitutional challenge against federal possession laws, but that is on hold. Crowe said deVries plans to wait for the results of the case of Matt Mernagh, who won an Ontario Supreme Court decision that not enough doctors are willing to prescribe marijuana for medical purposes. That decision effectively struck down Canada's possession laws, so the federal government is appealing.

DeVries' plea deal means most of his charges were stayed.

For sentencing, Gevikoglu and Crowe agreed deVries should be sentenced to two years plus a day for the drug charges, but could not agree on how long he should serve for the sex offences, nor how much credit he should get for time served. Those concerns took the bulk of court time May 24, and will occupy Kilpatrick for some time. Each submitted a dossier of precedents for why he should get five years as requested by the Crown, or three years as requested by the defence.

The two disagree about how much credit deVries should get for time spent at Baffin Correctional Centre (BCC), where he has been in custody since Sept. 13, 2011.

On the witness stand, deVries detailed his medical problems - which include angina, COPD, Crohn's disease, irritable bowel syndrome, hardening of the arteries, and bursitis - and how the living conditions and access to health care at BCC have contributed to those problems.

While at BCC, deVries once suffered a series of small strokes and had to be taken to the University of Ottawa's Heart Institute.

"Mr. deVries is the first client I've had who I thought might die in custody," said Crowe, a lawyer since 1984.

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