Ed DeVries

By Bob Weber, Canadian Press

 

IQALUIT, Nunavut — He calls himself a healer, not a dealer.

 

And despite spending last weekend in jail on drug charges, Ed DeVries is not about to shut what is almost certainly the most northerly - and perhaps the most popular - medical marijuana club in Canada.

 

"I couldn't stop this if I wanted to," says DeVries, a 52-year-old grandfather of four now facing four drug-related charges in Iqaluit, Nunavut.

 

He may be right.

 

The Qikiqtani Compassion Club, he says, distributes marijuana to 543 members, almost all of them in Iqaluit.