CANADIAN FED'L JUDGE OKS MEDICAL MARIJUANA

By David Crary, Associated Press Writer

TORONTO (AP) An epileptic man who for years has sought the right to use
marijuana won a major legal victory Wednesday when a judge declared part of
Canada's marijuana law unconstitutional.

Ontario Judge Patrick Sheppard ruled that Terry Parker, 42, has a
constitutional right to use marijuana for medically approved purposes.

Prosecutors said they were considering the possibility of an appeal.

Parker has been campaigning for nearly 20 years for the right to use
marijuana, coupled with other medication, to control his epileptic
seizures. He was acquitted on a marijuana possession charge 10 years ago,
but that verdict did not deal with the validity of the federal law that
prohibits possession.

Parker was arrested again in July 1996, and police seized 71 marijuana
plants from him.

Sheppard ordered police to return the plants to Parker, and said the
sections of the law barring marijuana use in cases of medical necessity are
unconstitutional.

The judge quashed charges of possession and cultivation against Parker, but
did convict him of trafficking a charge filed because Parker allegedly
supplied some of his marijuana to other people. It was not immediately
clear what penalty if any he would face on the trafficking charge.

Paul Burstein, a lawyer who assisted with Parker's case, said Sheppard's
ruling went "a significant step further" than the 1987 acquittal.

The early verdict was based solely on the specific circumstances of
Parker's medical condition at the time of the trial, Burstein said. The new
ruling says the law itself is flawed and cannot be used at any time to
criminalize the legitimate medical use of marijuana, he told the Canadian
Broadcasting Corp.

Marijuana proponents have grown increasing bold in recent months in their
challenge of Canada's existing laws.

A Vancouver entrepreneur, Marc Emery, has openly sold marijuana seeds at a
downtown store that is part of a profitable hemprelated business empire.

A nationwide coalition of activists is organizing a "Turn Yourself In"
campaign, calling on Canadians to defy marijuana laws on May 12, 1998, and
demand to be jailed until the substance is legalized.