HOLY SMOKE LAWYER PONDERS IMPACT OF POSSESSION RULING

The lawyer for owners and associates of the Holy Smoke Culture Shop in
Nelson is taking a wait and see approach following the ruling of a
lower Ontario court judge July 13 that Canada's marijuana possession
laws are unconstitutional.

Nelson lawyer Don Skogstad said that while he plans to use the ruling
in the Holy Smoke case regardless, the Crown will undoubtedly appeal
the decision.

"They [the Crown] are going to appeal it and they're going to keep
charging it in Ontario so at the moment it appears that it will have
no impact on us unless it's affirmed by a higher court," said
Skogstad, adding that rulings in other provinces can only have an
advisory effect and not a binding one. "We'll use it anyways but if
it's affirmed by a higher court, it will make it more effective for
us."

In 2001, Health Canada implemented the Marijuana Medical Access
Regulations in 2001 which allow access to marijuana for people
suffering from grave, debilitating illnesses, CBC News reported.

When presiding over the case of a 29 year-old Toronto man charged with
possession of 3.5 grams of pot (about $45 worth) last week, Judge
Howard Borenstein ruled that while the Government of Canada has a
policy allowing access for medicinal purposes, it does not have a law
and it was his opinion that the pot possession law is
unconstitutional.

"Although you can use marijuana now for medical reasons, apparently
you can't always get it so this is how the argument got revived," said
Skogstad.

"If the medical people can't get it then it can't be prohibited
period. They should be able to grow it and use it and you can't
distinguish between the two so it just becomes legal to possess
period, end of story."

Borenstein has given the Crown two weeks before making his ruling
official.

The Holy Smoke case, which will not go to trial until July 2008,
involves mostly trafficking charges laid against four people,
including two of the three co-owners of the store and two associates.
If the judge's decision to render the pot possession law
unconstitutional is held up it's possible trafficking laws may fall as
well.

"We think it will have an impact because all that we're working on
here is related," said Skogstad adding there are some drugs that are
legal to possess because of religious connotations but are illegal to
traffic.

Co-owner Paul DeFelice arrested last year outside Holy Smoke, is
facing a possession charge and was elated when he heard about the ruling.

"I couldn't believe it. I started looking on the Internet and the
more I read the happier I got and I started doing cartwheels around
the store wanting to hang a banner," said DeFelice. "It was lucky
Friday the 13th."