MARIJUANA ADVOCATE SEES JUDGE'S RULING AS STEP FORWARD

The federal government has moved quickly to nip in the bud any notion of
uncertainty in Canada's marijuana laws stemming from an Ontario court ruling.

The government Friday expedited an appeal against Ontario Court Justice
Douglas Phillips's ruling that sided with an Ontario teenager's lawyer who
argued the law that makes possession of marijuana illegal is effectively
invalid in that province.

Nevertheless, Philippe Lucas, Victoria founder and director of the
Vancouver Island Compassion Society, called the Ontario ruling another step
toward the inevitable decriminalization of pot in this country.

"Although it's not quite yet the time to walk down the street with a joint
in hand, I think it certainly seems to be following the steps of current
policy," he said.

Lucas said the activist community in general is pleased with the decision.

"We feel what the public is going to come to understand is that not only is
it a decision affecting recreational use but the decision came about as a
rebuke of the implementation of the government's own medical marijuana
program."

In the Ontario case, lawyer Brian McAllister successfully argued the
possession charge against his 16-year-old client should be dropped because
Ottawa has not yet adequately dealt with a ruling two years ago from the
Ontario court of Appeal.

In that decision the appeals court sided with a marijuana user who argued
the law violated the rights of sick people using the drug for medical reasons.

The federal government responded with its Marijuana Medical Access
Regulations which are supposed to allow marijuana use for certain medical
reasons but which have been widely criticized for being cumbersome, unfair
and tangled in red tape.

Those marijuana regulations are also subject to a separate constitutional
challenge in Toronto by a group of marijuana users who say their rights to
choose their own form of treatment are being violated.

Lucas said the federal government has to re-address its approach to medical
marijuana which allows certain people to smoke marijuana and to grow it
themselves for medicinal purposes but doesn't provide a supply.

"In 3 1/2 years and almost $5 million spent they haven't supplied a single
seed or a single gram of cannabis to a single legal user in Canada. All
they've done, essentially, is issue 1,000 pieces of paper. ... It's an
illusion of a policy. It's like saying: 'You've got a bad infection, go
make your own penicillin."

In making public the notice of appeal, federal Justice Department spokesman
Jim Leising said regardless of the recent Ontario decision the Controlled
Drugs and Substances Act is still the law of the land in Canada and police
will proceed with usual in laying charges.

Although there has been talk out of Ottawa about decriminalizing possession
of 30 grams of marijuana or less, Victoria Liberal MP David Anderson, who
sits in cabinet as environment minister, said he has not had a chance to
think hard on the marijuana issue.

Anderson said the first thing that occurs to him is the effect
decriminalization or legalization would have on Canada's relations with the
U.S.

He said with tighter security at the border these days the number of busts
for drugs has increased. What effect would decriminalization have at the
border?

"If we cause problems at the border it's another issue we have to take a
look at," said Anderson.

As for whether he, personally, ever puffed on a marijuana joint the answer
is "No." Anderson said he gave up cigarettes as a young man and by the time
marijuana started becoming popular he didn't want to inhale any kind of
smoke and he was too far removed from the scene even to be tempted.

"I'm an old man," said Anderson.

Lucas said international attitudes to pot should not be a factor.

"Most of Europe right now has more progressive policies than even the
decriminalization we're looking at. Really what we're talking about would
be some disconcertment from the U.S. But since they have the highest drug
usage rates in the world and they spend more money than anyone else in the
world trying to curb those usage rates, we probably shouldn't use them as
an example of how to govern our policy," he said.