After spending nearly a year in a fetid, decaying, violent, corrupt Nicaraguan prison, Dr Paul Wylie, the Canadian botanist illegally jailed in Nicaragua since December, 1998 (see CC#17, #20), was finally released and allowed to return home to Ontario.
Wylie had been acting as an agricultural advisor to Canadian company Hemp-Agro, which was growing 1400 acres of newly-developed tropical hemp near Managua. In December 1998, their field was burned by black-hooded government agents, and Dr Wylie was waylaid and imprisoned for a year without trial.

Wylie eagerly departed the death trap in late December, and rejoined his business partners at Hemp Agro. He had nearly died in prison; he had to have emergency surgery after returning to Canada. He also had to deal with the death of his son, killed in a car wreck in November, and financial ruin brought about by his long imprisonment.

"I am glad to be home, but it is a bittersweet homecoming," Wylie told Cannabis Culture in an exclusive interview. "There are still many loose ends to be tied up, such as a lawsuit against the Nicaraguan government, and an investigation into the DEA's role in all this. My health is not good, and I am grieving about the loss to my family."

Wylie declined to talk further about his ordeal, saying he is writing a book and having a movie made about the injustices he suffered.