ONTARIO COURT STRIKES DOWN MARIJUANA BAN

Ontario is one step closer to the legalization of marijuana after the
Ontario Superior Court struck down two key parts of the Controlled
Drugs and Substances Act that prohibit the possession and production of pot.

The court declared the rules that govern medical marijuana access and
the prohibitions laid out in sections 4 and 7 of the Act
"constitutionally invalid and of no force and effect" on Monday,
effectively paving the way for legalization.

If the government does not respond within 90 days with a successful
delay or re-regulation of marijuana, the drug will be legal to
possess and produce in Ontario, where the decision is binding.

The ruling stemmed from the constitutional challenge of Matthew
Mernagh, a man who relies on medical marijuana to ease pain brought
on by fibromyalgia, scoliosis, seizures and depression.

The Ontario Court of Appeal had previously recognized that to deprive
someone with a serious illness of medical marijuana if it relieves
their pain is a violation of the Canadian Charter of Rights and
Freedoms. As a result of that, the federal government created the
Marijuana Medical Access Regulations to let people legally get,
possess and grow marijuana if they have a licence supported by a
medical doctor.

Health Canada's medical marijuana program regulates and approves
which growers patients can buy from and how much they're legally
allowed to use for their treatment.

However, Justice Donald Taliano wrote in his decision on Monday that
Mr. Mernagh - a well-known marijuana advocate who has been charged
for possession and production of marijuana numerous times - has been
unable to get a doctor to sign off on a medical marijuana licence.

"Doctors often have a great deal of difficulty with this and have in
many cases blatantly outright refused to sign these forms," says
Jacob Hunter, the policy director for the Vancouver-based Beyond
Prohibition Foundation, which fights for the legalization of marijuana.

It's meant many Canadians waiting to be accepted into the medical
marijuana program seek out medical marijuana without a licence, at
times leading to possession and production-related arrests.

Mr. Mernagh's criminal charge is permanently stayed, Justice Taliano
wrote in his ruling, and he is granted a "personal exemption" to buy
or produce marijuana during the 90 days given to the government in
order to submit its challenge.

The decision is a huge win for legalization supporters and for
medical marijuana patients.

"I think it represents a dramatic step forward for critically and
chronically ill Canadians," B.C. lawyer and Foundation executive
director Kirk Tousaw said Tuesday night. "It is undoubtedly going to
progress through the court system ... but it's gratifying to see a
court has accepted what so many thousand medical marijuana patients
have been saying for years -that it's incredibly difficult if not
impossible to access medical marijuana."

He compared the case to that of Henry Morgentaler, the abortion
doctor and advocate whose constitutional win eventually led to the
widespread legalization of abortion, one that "became legal without
any real regulatory scheme surrounding it," Mr. Tousaw said.

Anti-drug action groups and others against the legalization of
marijuana have said legalizing marijuana could lead to widespread use
and increase crime rates.

Mr. Tousaw said that if unchallenged, the Ontario ruling could have a
ripple effect across Canada. "I would argue that if marijuana is
legal in Ontario, you can't realistically have it illegal in the rest
of the country."