FEDERAL CROWN TO APPEAL POT-POSSESSION RULING

Judge Erred in Decision to Stay Minesville Woman's Charge, Attorney Says

The Crown is appealing last week's ruling that stayed a marijuana
possession charge against a Minesville woman and threatened to snuff out
the law against holding less than 30 grams of pot in Nova Scotia.

Last Monday, Judge Flora Buchan stayed the proceedings against Paula Clarke
when she ruled on a pretrial motion in Dartmouth provincial court.

"The law is enforceable, and we're prepared to make arguments in support of
our position that the judge erred in staying these proceedings," Federal
Crown attorney Paul Riley said yesterday.

Buchan's ruling made Nova Scotia the third province where marijuana users
are unlikely to be convicted for simple possession.

Given rulings in similar cases in Ontario and Prince Edward Island earlier
this year, and based on a previous ruling in a medical-marijuana case, "it
would be oppressive and vexatious to allow a prosecution to proceed,"
Buchan said last week.

Like the other rulings in recent months, last week's decision came in
provincial court, which means it is not binding to other provincial court
judges, either in Nova Scotia or across Canada.

Riley is slated to be in the province's top court April 24 to set a date
for an appeal of Buchan's ruling.

"The Ontario case is the one that, I guess, got the ball rolling," Riley said.

"The judge there held that the changes that were made to the law had to be
made by the way of a statute -- an act of parliament -- as opposed to being
made by way of regulations."

But Riley said laws are allowed to be changed by regulations.

"We've appealed that Ontario decision, so there's nothing unfair or abusive
about us prosecuting similar cases here because that's not a final
decision, and we say there are reasons to question its accuracy."

Defence lawyer Allan Doughty, who won the motion last week, said yesterday
he no longer represents Clarke.

The 31-year-old Candy Mountain Road woman could not be reached yesterday
for comment.

Until the appeal is heard, Riley said Crown attorneys will be seeking
adjournments of all marijuana possession cases in the province, pending a
decision from the Nova Scotia Court of Appeal.

"Defence counsel could, potentially, oppose that," Doughty said.

"But that doesn't necessarily mean that the judge will agree with them."

Riley couldn't estimate how many possession charges might be adjourned.

Last year, the Crown prosecuted 270 marijuana possession cases in metro and
the surrounding area, said Justice Department spokesman Glenn Chamberlain.

"So you could probably estimate that in the province in a given year there
would be approximately 400 cases," Chamberlain said.