UP IN SMOKE?

Does the right of a Halton resident to smoke marijuana as a legally
recognized form of pain relief supercede the right of others in
society not to be exposed to it?

That's one of the many legal questions the Human Rights Tribunal of
Ontario will face when it hears the case of Burlington's Steve Gibson
versus Gator Ted's Tap and Grill owner Ted Kindos later this year. The
two men have been deadlocked in a two-and-a-half-year battle before
the Ontario Human Rights Commission (OHRC) over Gibson's contention
that he should be allowed to smoke his medical marijuana in the same
area outside the Guelph Line restaurant as cigarette smokers.

As an entrepreneur, Kindos believes he has to be able to address
customer complaints about exposure to wafting marijuana smoke outside
his restaurant's entrance.

Given our society's strong stance against secondhand smoke, we
understand Kindos's concern.

The case has the potential to be precedent-setting should it find that
medical marijuana users are free to administer their medicine whenever
and wherever the need arises.

Should Gibson's case succeed, we suspect others will try to push
medical marijuana use into public spaces where today's cigarette
smokers dare not go.