CROWN PRESSES CASE AGAINST 'POT CLUB'

Another Court Had Spoken In Favour Of 'Compassion Clubs' For Medical Supply

TORONTO -- The federal Justice Department will prosecute two employees of
the Toronto Compassion Centre, despite a recent court ruling that such
clubs may be a good way to distribute marijuana to people with medical
exemptions.

A preliminary hearing for Warren Hitzig and Zack Naftolin was set for July
14, after a brief court appearance in Toronto yesterday.

Hitzig and Naftolin both face six trafficking-related charges because of
their involvement in the centre, which provided medical marijuana for five
years before a police raid last summer.

"This is all about politics," said Hitzig, after learning the Crown would
not withdraw the criminal charges. "There are courts saying medical
marijuana is important yet the government is not doing anything to help
sick people" said Hitzig, who is a student at Concordia University in Montreal.

Hitzig was charged after more than a dozen Toronto police officers raided
the centre in August, a few days after he testified in a civil suit
challenging federal Marijuana Medical Access Regulations.

Ontario Superior Court Justice Sidney Lederman ruled earlier this month
that the regulations are unconstitutional because medically needy people
are required "to rely on black market marijuana."

The judge referred to what he called "the problem of the first seed," and
noted that there is no legal way for someone with a medical exemption to
obtain marijuana.

"Because they do not provide for a legal source or supply of cannabis,"
Judge Lederman said the regulations "actually foster the criminal conduct
they are supposed to be working against."

The judge suspended his ruling for six months to give the government time
to find a way to distribute a legal supply of marijuana.

"The government might consider creating properly regulated distribution
centres or licensing compassion clubs," said Judge Lederman.

Last month a judge in Quebec threw out trafficking charges against
organizers of a Montreal compassion club, also because of the lack of a
legal source for marijuana.

Hitzig's lawyer, Paul Burstein, said yesterday there is no evidence the
Toronto centre sold marijuana to people without documentation to show they
needed it for medical reasons.

"This is a waste of taxpayers' money" said Burstein, who criticized the
federal government's "forked tongue approach to this issue."