MARIJUANA POSSESSION

Pot Activists Hail Ruling

OTTAWA -- Marijuana activists are hailing a recent court ruling as
the beginning of the end of Canada's prohibition on pot, but the
Crown dismisses the decision as non-binding.

A trial judge in Oshawa, Ont., threw out charges of simple possession
of marijuana against three young men on Oct. 19, relying on a
previous court ruling that found Canada's pot law unconstitutional.
In making his decision, Judge Norman Edmondson cited a decision last
July by a fellow judge of the Ontario Court of Justice.

In the earlier case, which is being appealed by the Crown, Judge
Howard Borenstein accepted the defence lawyer's argument that Ottawa
must pass a law - rather than rely solely on government policy - to
allow accredited medical marijuana users to possess pot.

Health Canada has been forced by a series of court decisions to set
up a medical marijuana program authorizing patients struggling with
chronic conditions to use dope to alleviate their symptoms.

And a court ruling in 2003 required Health Canada to provide
government-certified marijuana to these patients so they don't have
to turn to the black market for their medicine.

In the July 13 Borenstein decision, defence lawyer Bryan McAllister
successfully argued that the law itself should have been changed, not
just the program. And because the law has not been rewritten to
accommodate medical users, the prohibition on all use - including
recreational use - collapses because the law is unconstitutional, the
court ruled.

A spokeswoman for the Crown said the October decision in Oshawa will
not be appealed.

"The decision of the trial judge is not binding upon any other trial
judge and the [Borenstein] decision he relied upon ... was wrongly
decided," Stephane Marinier, of the Brampton, Ont., office of Public
Prosecution Service of Canada, said in a e-mail.

The Crown will make its counterarguments in an appeal of the
Borenstein decision at Ontario's Superior Court of Justice, Ms. Marinier said.