MARIJUANA HYSTERIA NOT JUSTIFIED, COURT TOLD

Activist, Epileptic Challenge Laws

More than 600,000 Canadians have criminal records for possession of
marijuana but Ottawa has no valid basis for making it a crime,
Ontario's highest court has been told.

Parliament outlawed pot amid hysteria over the drug in 1923, but the
last 76 years have shown its harm is minimal, law professor Alan Young
told the Ontario Court of Appeal yesterday.

At one time in Canada, margarine was considered harmful and possessing
it was also a crime, Young noted.

``I'm not standing in this court today asserting marijuana is
harmless, perfectly harmless,'' he said. ``I couldn't say that about
anything - studies show thousands of Americans injure themselves every
year standing at their kitchen sink.''

People can die from drinking too much water, Young added. ``You can
kill lab rats with sugar,'' he said. ``You can't kill them with
marijuana.''

Young, a professor at Osgoode Hall law school, represents legal
activist Christopher Clay, 28, who, along with Toronto epileptic Terry
Parker, 44, are at the centre of a pivotal court battle to reform
Canada's marijuana laws.

Clay is appealing convictions for possession and trafficking. In
Parker's case, the federal government is appealing a Scarborough
judge's 1997 decision to stay charges against him for growing and
using marijuana to control his seizures, ordering that his seized
cannabis plants be returned.

The appeals have landed in court amid what some regard as increasing
inconsistency in Ottawa's stance on the use of marijuana. On one hand,
Health Minister Allan Rock is promising clinical trials and just this
week announced exemptions to allow 14 seriously ill people to use it.
At the same time, the federal justice department is fighting to uphold
Clay's conviction and to overturn Parker's stay, as well as the
broader issues in the appeals.