COURT DECIDES MEDICAL POT OK

In a ruling that takes a step toward marijuana ,legalization, a judge
struck down the federal government's anti-possession law Monday for ill
Canadians who smoke pot to ease pain.

Justice Marc Rosenberg of the Ontario Court of Appeal, declaring the law
violates the rights of sick people by forcing them to choose between
"health and imprisonment," gave Ottawa one year to rewrite its legislation.

The ruling was a victory for Terry Parker, 44, of Toronto, who smokes three
or four joints a day to control severe epilepsy that even brain surgery and
more than 100 hospital stays did not ease.

Parker, denouncing the federal Controlled Drugs and Substances Act for
"sucking big time," will continue to grow his own marijuana.

He said it is the only drug that gives him relief from the repeated
seizures, blackouts and vomiting he suffered since childhood.

"It's been three years now ... and there's not been one seizure," Parker,
with his lawyer at his side, said outside the Court of Appeal.

Rosenberg, in striking down the act, goes further than a 1997 decision in
which Parker was awarded a special exemption to the federal law.

If Health Minister Allan Rock does not act, the blanket prohibition on
possession will be nullified and marijuana will be legal in Canada for
everybody, including the healthy.

"It has been known for centuries that in addition to its intoxicating or
psychoactive effect, marijuana has medicinal value,"Rosenberg said in his
55-page ruling.

Violates Personal Liberty

"I have concluded that forcing Parker to choose between his health and
imprisonment violates his right to liberty and security of the person."

Rock started last year to award special exemptions to some ill Canadians
who can prove they need to smoke marijuana to control diseases such as AIDS
and cancer.

But Rosenberg rejected the requirement for the sick to seek federal
permission to smoke.

"I have concluded that the possibility of an exemption ... dependent upon
the unfettered and unstructured discretion of the Minister of Health is not
consistent with the principles of fundamental justice," he wrote.

"Accordingly, I would declare the prohibition on the possession of
marijuana in the Controlled Drugs and Substances Act to be of no force and
effect."

Rosenberg suspended his ruling for a year to give Parliament time to revamp
its law.

Ruling protects Parker

In the meantime, Parker "cannot be deprived of his rights," said Rosenberg,
who gave the unemployed man permission to continue growing his own marijuana.

Parker, who survives on a disability pension, was arrested twice for
cultivating pot, once after police raided his home in 1996 and seized 70
plants, also charging him with drug trafficking.

Officials at Health Canada and Rock's office would not comment on the
ruling Monday. It is not yet known whether the government will ask the
Supreme Court of Canada to hear the case.

Although the judgment applies only in Ontario, the province's court of
appeal is one of the most influential in the country and will likely have
weight in other superior courts.

In a separate ruling, however, Rosenberg rejected an appeal from Chris
Clay, a former London hemp store owner who was seeking the general
legalization of marijuana. His lawyers are expected to seek leave to appeal
in the Supreme Court of Canada.