SICK N.S. WOMAN HIGH ON REEFER RULING

A Nova Scotia woman who joined six seriously ill Ontarians in suing the
federal government for access to marijuana says she is elated to have won
her case.

A Ontario judge ruled Thursday that Ottawa's Medical Marijuana Access
Regulations are unconstitutional because they prevent too many people from
getting a medical exemption.

Unless the federal government appeals the ruling, it has six months to fix
the legislation or come up with a new regime for access to medical marijuana.

"I'm just absolutely elated," said Debbie Stultz-Giffin.

The 45-year-old mother of four smokes four grams of marijuana every day to
deal with her multiple-sclerosis symptoms.

"The federal government will finally be forced to develop a compassionate,
workable system for gravely ill patients to deal with their medication.
It's just a huge relief for sick people."

Toronto law professor Alan Young argued the case. He said the judge's
decision is binding on lower courts, and he expects it to wreak havoc on
marijuana-possession laws. He believes Ottawa will likely appeal the ruling
within 30 days.

Declined comment

Several local lawyers and law professors declined to comment on the
ramifications of the case in Nova Scotia, saying they hadn't yet read the
decision.

Stultz-Giffin said she hopes Health Canada will allow everyone on an
exemption and those who have filled out the paper work to be granted legal
protection if they use marijuana, pending a new regime.

"All of these people should be given automatic legal protection from Health
Canada," she said, "so that people don't have to worry. It's just
extremely, extremely stressful for chronically ill people to be subjected
to this on a daily basis."

Government estimates say between 400,000 and one million Canadians smoke
marijuana for medical reasons.

About 300 Canadians hold exemptions from the federal government allowing
them to do it legally, and they must reapply every year.

For Stultz-Giffin, that means a trip from Bridgetown, Annapolis Co., every
year to see a specialist at a pain clinic in Halifax to confirm she is
still suffering from MS.

"If they can pull it off and come up with a workable system, it would mean
I would no longer need to travel 21/2 hours to Halifax. I could just be
able to go to my GP 15 minutes away," she said.