POLICE ARREST 72-YEAR-OLD SUSPECTED OF TRAFFICKING

Surete du Quebec officers rousted Wally Ethier from his room at a senior
citizens' residence on Sacre-Coeur Boulevard in Hull yesterday and
confronted the 72-year-old man with allegations that he had sold marijuana
to teenagers from a nearby high school.

They seized about 30 grams of marijuana and roughly $350 in cash at his
apartment. The officers questioned Mr. Ethier for almost four hours.

Police expect to lay charges as early as today. ``He was arrested after a
thorough investigation,'' Sgt. Michel Lepine said. ``There will be charges
against him.''

But a tired and frail Mr. Ethier denounced the allegations against him and
said he is simply a sick old man who smokes marijuana to treat his
rheumatoid arthritis and poor circulation.

``I don't sell to anyone,'' Mr. Ethier said during a brief interview before
he went to bed. ``I use (marijuana) for medical reasons. I have arthritis
and nervousness.''

Mr. Ethier, who walks with the assistance of a cane, said he would fight
the investigation, but didn't want to say anything else until he had talked
to a lawyer.

Mr. Ethier said police seized marijuana and money from his apartment
yesterday afternoon.

The investigation appears to be the latest chapter in a battle between
police forces trying to uphold the nation's drug laws and a growing
community of medical experts and patients who assert that marijuana is a
necessary and valuable medicine.

In a similar case last fall, the RCMP raided the apartment of another Hull
man, Jean Charles Pariseau, and seized several dozen marijuana plants. He
was charged with possession and the cultivation of an illegal drug.

Mr. Pariseau has AIDS and was smoking marijuana on the advice of his
physician, Dr. Don Kilby, to help stimulate his appetite.

Mr. Pariseau continues to fight the charges on the basis that he needs the
marijuana for his health.

``If someone is using marijuana for their own purposes, and I'm not talking
about someone who is selling to minors, but someone who uses it for the
drug's perceived medical benefit, then it's an absurdity to keep bringing
the law into it,'' says Eugene Oscapella, a founding member of the Canadian
Foundation for Drug Policy, a group that supports the legalization of
marijuana for medical purposes.

``We continue to waste resources and we continue to go after people who
should be left alone. He's a grown man and the state shouldn't be telling
him how to run his life.''

However, the Surete du Quebec said it is entirely police matter.

``A lot of people claim they use (marijuana) for medicine now,'' says Sgt.
Lepine. ``This is a police investigation.''

Adds Const. Gilles Couture, a Surete du Quebec spokesman, ``If there were
kids involved, it is even more serious.''

Other residents at 50 Sacre-Coeur Blvd., a high-rise that caters to people
over the age of 55, were shocked at Mr. Ethier's arrest.

``He's an A1 guy, a great person,'' said George Frechette, who's known Mr.
Ethier for six years.

``He doesn't sell dope and if he smokes it, it's for his leg. You know what
it is? There are some good people in this building and bad people ... Some
of the bad people are upset because Ethier has visitors who sometimes take
their bikes across the grass. They probably made up the stories.''

The police will continue their investigation into Mr. Ethier today.