MAYOR BOWS OUT OF HEMP HEARING

Vancouver Mayor Phillip Owen has disqualified himself from a city
council show-cause hearing involving Hemp B.C. and the Cannabis Cafe,
set for Sept. 29.

The decision of city council could result in the closure of the two
marijuana and hemp emporiums.

Lawyers for the two businesses and the B.C. Civil Liberties
Association had wanted Owen ousted from the proceedings, saying a
comment the mayor made in a New York Times interview published Aug. 20
showed he'd already decided to close the outlets in the 300-block of
West Hastings.

"They're going to be toast by September,"Owen told the Times when
asked about Hemp B.C. and the Cannabis Cafe.

Owen, who usually attends show-cause hearings, says he's not
disqualifying himself because of the comment - which he claims was
taken out of context - but because he heads the police board.

"I have no intention of being part of that show-cause because I'm
chair of the police board,"said Owen. "So it isn't appropriate for me
to be in a show-cause issue that's dealing with a police issue and a
lot of police evidence."

Owen, however, has sat on many show-cause hearings that deal with
police evidence, including the closing in May of the Pofi Bar on
Commercial Drive.

"He's made the correct decision,"said Jonathan Baker, senior council
for Shelley Francis (a.k.a. Sister Icee), owner of Hemp B.C. and the
Cannabis Cafe. "He has made up his decision in advance and, if he
were to participate, the decision could be set aside for that reason."

Baker, who was not aware of Owen's decision until told by a Province
reporter yesterday, said Owen's rationale for stepping aside "doesn't
make a lot of sense."

"The reason is obviously a somewhat novel one,"said Baker, who ran for
mayor against Owen in 1996.

Checked-by: Rich O'Grady