Woman pleads guilty to mailing pot to sick friend
Tara Kearsey
Northern News Services
Yellowknife (Feb 16/01) - Helping out a friend by sending 61 marijuana cigarettes through the mail will cost a Yellowknife woman $1,000.
In court Wednesday, Maria Semmler, 38, pleaded guilty to trafficking 15 grams of marijuana by sending the drugs to a friend in Fort Good Hope last May.
Defense lawyer Robert Gorin explained to the court that Semmler was simply "trying to help out a friend" who wanted the marijuana for medicinal purposes. The Fort Good Hope woman had her spleen removed and did not have any appetite. She was hoping the marijuana would stimulate her appetite.
Semmler sent the marijuana cigarettes, worth about $300, to her friend via ExpressPost.
"She wasn't really expecting payment ... this is not a case of trafficking for profit; it is a case of social trafficking," said Gorin.
Given the circumstances, Gorin said he did not believe incarcerating his client would be necessary. He explained Semmler has a full-time job in Yellowknife and would lose her job if she had to serve jail time.
Judge Brian Bruser considered sentencing Semmler to serve jail time intermittently at the Yellowknife RCMP detachment, but Gorin said the detachment cells are not suitable.
He said the cells are very small, they can get crowded, prisoners are only permitted to leave the cell to get a shower and they are fed Swanson TV dinners. He also said it will be an unpleasant atmosphere for Semmler because the drunk tank is located nearby.
It's not the first time the detachment cells have been criticized. Four years ago a 21-year-old woman told a territorial court judge that she "just couldn't bear the conditions" after serving four weekends there. Her lawyer asked that her sentence be changed to serve her time continuously at the Yellowknife Correctional Center.
Bruser took time to reach a sentence, ultimately deciding that imprisonment was not necessary.
"In this case the facts are unique, they are even exceptional ... this was not being done for profit but compassionate, albeit illegal reasons," he said.
Bruser fined Semmler $1,000, to be paid within six months. He warned her that if it happened again he would not be as lenient.
"You are forewarned if you do this kind of thing again ... you are looking at a period of imprisonment."
