A VICTORY FOR PIE-THROWERS ACROSS THE LAND

OTTAWA - Marijuana party leader Marc Boris St-Maurice says he's
pleased the Canadian justice system respects every man's right to
throw a cream pie in his own face -- even if a bit of it lands on the
cheek of a Mountie.

St-Maurice, 32, of Montreal, spoke Monday after assistant Crown
attorney Ursula Hendel withdrew a charge of assaulting a police
officer Monday.

Hendel relented after viewing a videotape of the incident on
Parliament Hill last Nov.25 during a marijuana legalization rally.
"Upon reviewing the video, the Crown takes the position there is no
prospect of conviction."

The video shows St-Maurice with a pie trying to approach a statue of
Emily Murphy, noted women's rights advocate and anti-marijuana
crusader who helped author prohibition of the drug in 1923.

As St-Maurice tries to approach the statue, two RCMP officers bar his
access. When it is clear he is not going get close enough to hit the
statue, St-Maurice nails himself directly in the face with the pie.

It should be noted that this particular pie was a baked good of
considerable mass, and as St-Maurice hit himself, some of the cream
glanced off and hit the left cheek of an officer standing beside him.

St-Maurice was then taken into custody.

"I absolutely did not mean to hit the officer," he said. "The RCMP
would not let me near the statue, and I was left with a live pie. The
only honourable thing to do at that point was disarm the pie on
myself, which I did," said St-Maurice after the Crown withdrew the
charges Monday.