Pot for pain, says accused
Couple says they grew plants to avoid buying from dealers
Daniel Campbell
Northern News Services
Published Monday, December 9, 2013
SOMBA K'E/YELLOWKNIFE
The woman charged with illegally growing and trafficking marijuana in her home testified Thursday and Friday she needed to grow her own plants because conventional medicine had failed her.
Craig and Kim MacNearney leave the courthouse Friday afternoon after five days of proceedings. They're both charged with marijuana trafficking and production. - Daniel Campbell/NNSL photo |
Kim MacNearney and her husband Craig have been on trial by judge and jury since last Monday. They were initially charged in February, 2009 after RCMP found evidence of a grow operation in their Northland Trailer Park home.
During her testimony, Kim said she has experienced back pain from a hurt disc for more than 17 years.
After undergoing surgery for the problem in 1996, Kim was prescribed heavy pain killers.
"It was making me sick. I was having dizzy spells and seeing spots," Kim told the 11-man, three-woman jury of the medicine she was taking.
By 2003, Kim said her prescribed medicine became so unbearable she began looking at other options.
She said she discovered the benefits of marijuana shortly before moving to Yellowknife from Truro, N.S. in 2003.
"It seemed to have a fairly quick effect on the pain. It was tolerable, manageable and didn't have the side effects."
But the cost associated with buying marijuana "on the street" and the uncertainty of quality pushed the MacNearneys to try growing their own, Kim said. The MacNearneys had already been growing garden vegetables at their residence and had some of the necessary equipment, Kim added.
"It's just a seed and a plant and it can't be that hard."
The MacNearneys grow records, filed as exhibits in the case, indicate they began cultivating their own marijuana in January 2008. By April 2008 they had completed four harvests. Crown prosecutor Ryan Carrier cross-examined Kim on Friday, asking her if their crop was meant to be shared or sold.
"No, that was not the intent of it at all," Kim said.
Carrier pointed to earlier testimony by friends of the MacNearneys, who indicated they had shared marijuana back and forth.
"It wasn't very shareable," Kim said of her crop, noting its poor quality. She insisted they would share other marijuana with friends if they needed it, but rarely gave anyone their own product.
Although she was aware medical marijuana could be obtained legally, Kim testified she didn't try to get a licence because she feared the stigma associated with marijuana use.
Kim worked for the territorial government as a human resources officer in 2008.
"It's a very scary situation to admit that you're taking an illegal substance," she said.
"I felt it was just safer to stay in hiding."
Kim testified her fears were realized when police searched her home on Feb. 19, 2009. She spent a good part of the day in RCMP cells and was released later that evening. When she returned home she testified her house had been ransacked.
"The soil was all over the floor, there was glass on the floor," Kim said.
"Very personal items were removed and left open for any and all to observe."
Kim added a baby mattress her child used was slashed open diagonally, a police "cocaine wipe" was left on her child's play table and rubber gloves were strewn around their property.
RCMP Sgt. Jeremie Landry, the lead investigator at the MacNearney home that day, testified Tuesday he has no recollection of his officers breaking items in the house. Photographs from the scene allegedly taken before police left show the home in good condition.
Following her arrest, Kim said she was treated poorly at work and eventually demoted. She said she tried to "lay low" but felt embarrassed and scrutinized.
"People couldn't believe I was still at work. They didn't want to work with me."
Kim now possesses a licence from Health Canada authorizing her to possess 360 grams of marijuana and a prescription to consume 12 grams a day. Craig is allowed to grow 59 plants in their home - nearly double what they were arrested for - although Kim testified Thursday there are currently no plants being grown in their house.
Both Kim and Craig's licences were obtained after their arrest. Kim is now an advocate for the decriminalization of marijuana.
The MacNearneys' trial will continue today. The doctor who prescribed Kim the medical marijuana is expected to testify.
