A New Brunswick Mountie at the centre of a medical marijuana furor has been stripped of his uniforms and assigned to medical leave.

Cpl. Ron Francis, 42, a 21-year veteran of the force, arrived Friday at the RCMP headquarters in Fredericton after he was ordered to return his dress uniform.

Francis, who was accompanied by a Maliseet elder, wept as he delivered the red serge.

But he did not return a 20-year exemplary service medal he received, saying that was an honour he earned that cannot be taken away from him.

RCMP officers seized his other uniforms at his home Thursday night.

The RCMP says officers who are prescribed medicinal marijuana should not be in red serge or regular uniform while taking their medication.

Francis has been photographed smoking marijuana while in uniform. He has a prescription to cope with the post-traumatic stress disorder he says is a result of his work.

While Francis was unavailable for comment Friday, he has told the Fredericton media about job-induced depression, nightmares, sleep loss and anxiety from policing the Kingsclear First Nation, his home community.

“I’ve seen a lot of different things,” Francis recently told The Daily Gleaner. “I had to shovel a childhood friend into a body bag. . . . I’ve been to two murders. I’ve been to northern Labrador at Davis Inlet and seen some of the worse conditions.

“I’ve gone through cars with five dead bodies looking for identification.”

He also spoke defiantly about what he considered his right to smoke the prescribed marijuana, saying he doesn’t consume enough of the drug to get high on the job.

“I’m not seeking permission,” he told the local newspaper. “I have the legal right. There’s no policy, no procedures, no law.

“If they suspend me or fire me, I’ll run for MP.”

Francis also spoke of stress 16 months ago, when he gave a victim impact statement in court after jail authorities broke up a plot to murder him.

The man who planned his murder had a long history of alcohol and drug abuse. He was apparently incensed at his frequent run-ins with Francis, who was often called to his home to investigate reports of domestic assault.

In his victim-impact statement, Francis, a father of four, said he had concerns about the safety of his family as well as himself.

Upon his return to work in January from stress leave, Francis was assigned to desk duty in the Fredericton detachment, and did not carry a gun or drive a cruiser.

Mounties are encouraged to seek psychological assistance after suffering from severe on-the-job stress such as arriving at an accident scene where family members are involved or being held hostage for more than four hours, said Sgt. Greg Cox from RCMP headquarters in Ottawa.

“It is highly recommended that the member seek psychological assistance. However, we cannot force a member to do so.”

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Members are covered in their health planfor six hours of counselling a year without a referral from a superior officer, and another six hours a year when it’s pre-approved by a regional or divisional psychologist, Cox said.

Francis is a member of the Kingsclear First Nation, a tiny band 14 kilometres west of Fredericton with 657 on-reserve residents and another 267 off reserve.

Kingsclear Chief Gabriel Atwin was not available for comment Friday.

Band councillor Theodora Polchies told the Star she doubted anyone else on the band council wanted to comment of Francis’s situation, or about job stress policing the reserve.

Asked what stress Francis faced while he was policing his home reserve, Polchies replied: “Probably no more than any other RCMP.”