COMPASSION CLUBS CAN GROW POT

Canwest News Service A B.C. Supreme Court justice has endorsed a
recent Federal Court decision saying the national marijuana program is
unconstitutional.

Justice Marvyn Koenigsberg gave Ottawa one year to fix the
medical-marijuana access regulations so compassion clubs or producers
can get together and run a common marijuana-growing operation.

The federal government restricts any licensed grower to supplying only
one licensed user, and prohibits more than three growers from pooling
resources.

Both those restrictions are unconstitutional, Koenigsberg ruled.
Although she ruled the regulations are unconstitutional, she also
found Mathew Beren of Victoria guilty of illegally trafficking and
producing marijuana. But she gave him an absolute discharge.

A 35-year-old hydroponic-store owner, Beren was charged in 2004 after
a raid on a research facility operated by the Vancouver Island
Compassion Society.