MEDICAL POT COURT CHALLENGE BEGINS

A constitutional challenge to Canada's medical marijuana regulations
began yesterday, part of the B.C. Supreme Court trial of two
Victorians charged after a police raid of a compassion club grow-op.

Defence lawyer John Conroy of Abbotsford said outside the courtroom
that the constitutional challenge contends government regulations
force Canadians onto the black market to buy marijuana.

And that interferes with the charter right to life, liberty and
security of person, a position the defence says is supported by other
court rulings.

On trial are Michael Swallow, 41, and Mat Beren, 32, both charged with
possession of marijuana for the purpose of trafficking and with
production of marijuana.

The two were arrested in May 2004 when West Shore RCMP raided a house
near Sooke being used by the Vancouver Island Compassion Society to
grow marijuana.

The 600-member society is one of two groups in Victoria -- the other
being the Victoria Cannabis Buyers' Club -- that supply medical
marijuana to members.

The two organizations are part of a wide trend where clubs have been
set up to supply marijuana to people who can supply evidence of a
longstanding incurable medical condition such as HIV/AIDS or multiple
sclerosis.

The Victoria Cannabis Buyers' Club has also been forced into court,
winning one case in B.C. provincial court but losing another.

The trial of Swallow and Beren began earlier in the week with defence
lawyers seeking an application for a stay, based on the length of time
the case has taken to come to trial. The application was
unsuccessful.

Phillippe Lucas, spokesman for the Vancouver Island Compassion
Society, said in an interview the group has assembled what it
considers an impressive list of witnesses for the constitutional
challenge but it was also bound to follow legal advice and seek the
stay on behalf of the two accused men.

Testimony in the challenge began with Lynne Belle-Isle of Ottawa, an
epidemiologist with the Canadian AIDS Society and author of several
reports on the use of medical marijuana.

Belle-Isle testified Health Canada allows three legal ways for people
to get marijuana for medical use:

- - They can seek government permission to grow it themselves;

- - They can seek permission to have a designated person grow it for
them;

- - They can apply to buy their marijuana from the federal government,
which grows it in an unused mine in Manitoba.

However, Belle-Isle said, studies she has completed show the majority
of users of medical marijuana buy it from illegal sources.

She also testified more physicians are willing to sign notes for
patients to attend compassion clubs than to register in the government
programs.

Many compassion clubs have exhibited a degree of professionalism and
care.

"They have even taken it upon themselves to come up with operational
standards, strict rules," said Belle-Isle.