The Victoria-based television production company, The May Street Group Film, Video & Animation Ltd. is proud to announce the premiere national broadcast of its one-hour documentary, Crimes of Compassion, on CanWest Global Television stations across Canada on Wednesday, February 20, 2002. Broadcast times are as follows: Ontario, Quebec and BC 10pm, Manitoba and Saskatchewan and Alberta will broadcast on February 22 at 9pm.
Crimes of Compassion takes an insider's look at the Vancouver Island Compassion Society (VICS) as it struggles to operate after being busted by the police. The VICS was established to provide affordable, medical-grade cannabis to people with degenerative illnesses throughout Vancouver Island. But all this changed when the storefront was raided by the police and its medicine confiscated. This is a very dramatic story, fueled by the commitment and passion of the Society's operators, the anxiety and desperate need of its patients, the heated debate within the medical community, and the exasperation of the police who are asking for clarity as they attempt to enforce increasingly unenforceable laws.

The film includes an inside look at a medical marijuana grow operation, and an interview with former Canadian Health Minister Alan Rock as part of an examination of the medical marijuana access regulations. One question remains: will compassion societies still play a role under the jurisdiction? We also explore the influence of the United States government upon this legislation, begging another important question - must medical patients continue to compromise their well-being and liberty in order to appease this relationship?

Crimes of Compassion was written and directed and co-produced by Victoria's Jennifer Pickford and produced by Hilary Jones-Farrow and The May Street Group. It was filmed almost entirely on location in British Columbia in Victoria, Vancouver, Gibsons, and Saltspring and Mayne Islands.

For more information please contact:

Sarah King
The May Street Group
(250) 380-6656
sarah.king@maystreet.ca

- Canwest Global: TV listings (enter your postal code and connection and then Thurs 10PM/11PM on the grid)