JUDGE FINDS POT HARMLESS, BUT TOO HOT FOR CANADIANS

LONDON, ON Although agreeing that marijuana use is relatively harmless,
an Ontario provincial judge has passed the buck on a constitutional
challenge to Canada's pot laws, saying any changes to the country's drug
legislation should be made by politicians. Justice John McCart then
convicted Chris Clay, former owner of a London hemp shop called Hemp Nation,
on three trafficking and possession charges stemming from a 1995 raid at his
store.

"Easing of restrictions on thepossession and use of marijuana is within the
domain of the legislative branch of government," observed McCart during the
reading of his lengthy August 14 ruling.

McCart aquitted Clay on a charge of cultivation, and threw out similar
charges against store employee Jordan Prentice.

Clay, 26, said he was "shocked" by the judge's decision to wash his hands of
the constitutional argument. "The first half of his ruling was very
positive, talking about how governments are decriminalizing," Clay noted,
"and then he kind of turned it around and said he didn't have the authority
to make a ruling."

Clay's challenge to Canada's drug laws during his threeweek trial last
spring was based on the country's Charter of Rights and Freedoms. Charged
with selling cloned marijuana plants from Hemp Nation, Clay enlisted the aid
of Toronto law professor Alan Young, and has raised contributions through
his internet home page, located at www.hempnation.com.

In his ruling, McCart suggested Canadian politicians should consider easing
penalties for pot use in keeping with trends in most other western nations.
"The national governments of Canada and the United States appear to be
somewhat out of step with the rest of the western world," he noted.

But McCart also noted that the relaxing of some drug laws in other western
countries was mandated, in most cases, by their legislatures and not the
courts. McCart said he also accepted testimony from defense witnesses that
marijuana use is relatively harmless in comparison to such legal drugs as
alcohol and tobacco and that it does not lead to harder drugs.

Clay, who faces a life sentence for trafficking, says he intends to appeal
the judge's decision all the way to the Supreme Court of Canada.

Alan Young, who will continue to represent Clay, says courts can in fact
overturn pot laws, and McCart should have done so because Canadian
politicians won't touch the issue. "What I really would have liked to have
seen is the judge say, 'We've done enough studies, we can't find the harm
we're looking for, and it's time to respect the liberty and trust of all
Canadians," he said. After the verdict, Vancouver cannabis crusader Marc
Emery offered free pot on the courthouse steps, while close to a dozen
supporters rolled and fired up joints. "If you want freedom, you're just
going to have to take it," said Emery, who's donated $5,000 to Clay's
defense. "And that's what I'm doing right now, we're just distributing pot
here, giving it away."