COURT EASES MEDICAL MARIJUANA RULES, REINSTATES LAW AGAINST POSSESSION

Those With Permits Must Have Access to Drug: Judges

An Ontario Court of Appeal ruling has theoretically made it easier for
medical marijuana users to safely get a good supply of the drug.

But the court yesterday reinstated the law against everyone else
possessing small amounts of cannabis for recreational use.

The court dismissed an appeal by the federal Justice Department of a
lower court ruling that found Health Canada's Marijuana Medical Access
Regulations were unconstitutional.

It said the regulations didn't provide a reliable source of marijuana
for sick people with government permits to smoke the drug for medical
purposes.

The judges also changed the medical marijuana regulations in four
fundamental ways.

Justices David Doherty, Stephen Goudge and Janet Simmons struck down the
regulations against sick people paying designated growers for marijuana,
designated growers supplying more than one sick person, and growers
banding together to grow the drug.

They also struck down a requirement that people suffering from ailments
other than cancer, AIDS and multiple sclerosis needed two specialists to
prescribe the drug before an exemption would be granted.

The court said growers still had to get a licence from Health Canada,
and the government could put further restrictions on the growers. In
theory, this paves the way for the legalization of "compassion clubs,"
which grow marijuana for a number of sick people who pay for the drug.
Many of these organizations operate illegally in Canada already.

The other major part of the court's ruling deals with simple possession
of marijuana by people without exemptions.

In January, a judge declared the law against simple possession of
marijuana didn't exist in Ontario because a previous court of appeal
ruling said the possession law would be invalid by July 2001 if the
government didn't create a constitutionally sound exemption. The
government did not do this.

The judge acquitted a person who was charged with possession of
marijuana, saying the law didn't exist. The Justice Department appealed
this finding.

Yesterday, the court agreed with the lower court ruling that there has
been no law against possession of marijuana since July 2001. However, it
said that because it has now changed the medical marijuana access
regulations to make them constitutional, the simple possession law is
reinstated.

The ruling creates a quandary for justice officials. The court clearly
held that the law against possession in Ontario has been void since July
2001.

This means hundreds of people have been convicted of or pleaded guilty
to breaking a law that didn't exist.

The Justice Department will now have to decide what to do with cases put
on hold pending this ruling.
__________________________________________________________________________
Distributed without profit to those who have expressed a prior interest in
receiving the included information for research and educational purposes.
---