POT RULING APPEAL EXPECTED

Feds May Oppose Ontario Court Finding. Judge Found Medical Marijuana
Regulations Violated Canada's Charter Of Rights

The federal government is today expected to file a last-minute appeal of an
Ontario Superior Court decision that found Health Canada's medical
marijuana regulations to be unconstitutional.

Health Canada has until the end of the day to appeal a Jan. 9 ruling by
Justice Sidney Lederman.

The experienced Superior Court judge ruled that the existing Marijuana
Medical Access Regulations violated the Charter of Rights because there is
no legal source of marijuana for people with medical exemptions.

"Laws which put seriously ill, vulnerable people in a position where they
have to deal with the criminal underworld to obtain medicine they have been
authorized to take, violate the constitutional right to security of the
person," wrote Lederman.

The judge found the regulations to be of "no force and effect." But he
suspended his order for six months to give the federal government time to
"provide for a legal source and supply of the drug."

Health Canada signed a five-year, $5.7-million contract with Prairie Plant
Systems Inc. more than two years ago to grow marijuana. None of the
marijuana produced under that contract has been distributed for medical
purposes.

The federal government argued during the Ontario Superior Court hearing
last fall that the Prairie Plant marijuana was always intended only for
research use.

In his ruling, Lederman referred to a Dec. 21, 2000 news release and noted
that the health minister at the time, Allan Rock, said that some of the
marijuana would be distributed "to authorized Canadians using it for
medical purposes."

The federal government "has always come to the table kicking and screaming"
on this issue, said Young. "The fact that they have spent millions of
dollars to grow pot and do nothing with it is representative of their
attitude."

If Health Canada does file an appeal, the legal debate will shift to the
same court that first delivered a major blow to the federal government's
marijuana possession laws.

In July 2000, the Ontario Court of Appeal ruled that the complete
prohibition against possession of marijuana, without an exception for
medical use, was unconstitutional.

It was the Court of Appeal's ruling that required the federal government to
draft the Marijuana Medical Access Regulations that were ruled invalid last
month.