MONOPOLY ON POT FOUGHT

It's a marijuana "monopoly" that deserves to go up in smoke, activists say.

Lawyers representing a group of 30 medicinal marijuana users will be
in court Monday to fight the federal government's bid to keep control
of large-scale medicinal pot distribution in Canada.

Activists say the government-issued pot is weak.

They say Health Canada's regulation that forbids licensed pot growers
from providing weed to more than one sick person at a time is unfair
and arbitrary.

Currently, government-issue pot is only grown by one company, Prairie
Plant Systems in Manitoba.

Any licensed medicinal marijuana user who doesn't have an exclusive
grower that only provides pot to them -- and them only -- is
restricted to smoking the government bud.

The group of 30 patients wanted to all get their medicinal weed from
a small-scale provider called Carousel but were unable to because of
the federal regulation, so they took their battle to the courts.

Justice department lawyers will argue the government's appeal of a
decision early this January by Federal Court Justice Barry Strayer,
who awarded the patients a victory by ruling against the federal policy.

Strayer concluded the Health Canada regulation was unconstitutional.

But despite Strayer's ruling, the federal restriction still stands.
The federal government got a stay of the judgment while the case was
under appeal.

Alan Young, one of the lawyers for the 30 patients, said the patients
want more freedom to choose their own medicinal marijuana without
being forced to smoke the government's crop.

If the appeal is denied after Monday's one-day hearing at the Federal
Court of Appeal, patients will enjoy greater access to medicinal
marijuana without having to worry about being the sole client of the
grower, Young said.

However, Young added if the federal government loses the appeal, it's
possible they could take their case to the Supreme Court.