Simpson takes stand | United States

Simpson takes stand

AMHERST — With his witnesses being inadmissible to his case, Rickey Simpson took the stand to deliver the only defence testimony during his Supreme Court trial.
Simpson is facing one count each of possession, possession for trafficking and production. After an injury in 1997 caused Simpson to suffer from post-concussion syndrome, he watched an episode of the “Nature of Things” featuring hemp as a medicinal treatment and its “amazing results.”

“Just smoking hemp did more for me than the prescription drugs,” said Simpson from the stand regarding the migraine noise he often gets in his head.

Simpson told the court about being diagnosed with skin cancer, and recalling a radio report from 1975 about the use of tetrahydrocannabinol (THC) killing plant cells. Simpson purchased oil from a dealer and within days, the spots were gone.

He started telling people what happened, and looked into applying for a grower’s licence through the Pain Management Centre. He got a recording saying it would be a 21-month wait without a doctor’s referral.

He went to his family doctor, but “when I informed the receptionist, she went rigid and said the doctor will not go there.”

After trying, without success, to get government officials, doctors and health professionals to visit the people claiming to have been cured by the oil, Simpson set up a meeting at the Maccan Legion.

Following the meeting, Simpson learned of interest in helping him grow the marijuana.

“In June 2005, the people that used the oil helped plant over 1,600 plants in my backyard.”

Two months later, the RCMP raided Simpson’s home and charged him with the three counts he’s currently facing.

Crown attorney Monica McQueen asked Simpson during cross-examination if the house depicted in the photographs of exhibit one was his.

“Yes, everything depicted in there is mine,” he responded, adding that the marijuana plants pictured on the property were his and that he cared for the marijuana plants.

“You said your intention was to transfer the cannabis oil from the plant?” asked McQueen.

“Yes, the bud of the marijuana makes the best oil by far and that’s what I needed,” answered Simpson.

Although Simpson wasn’t selling the oil, he admits to giving it away, something that still falls under the definition of trafficking.

McQueen’s final questions regarded a photograph from exhibit one that contained “a bag of marijuana leaves and possibly marijuana bud”, according to Simpson.

When asked if the bag containing the leaves and possibly bud belonged to Simpson, he responded with a yes.

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