CONSTITUTIONAL POT CHALLENGE IN SECHELT PROVINCIAL COURT

Marijuana Laws

The local courtroom is taking centre stage in a constitutional
showdown on laws governing the possession of marijuana, after a
written submission from Vancouver lawyer Kirk Tousaw on Tuesday.

Tousaw and Ryan Poelzer, an East Vancouver man charged with
possession of marijuana on the Coast in late May, are pursuing a
constitutional defence based on the non-viability of Health Canada's
2003 Marijuana Medical Access Regulation (MMAR).

"The courts have found, as recently as Jan. 2008, the MMAR is not
constitutionally adequate," said Tousaw. "It's clear that the
government can only prohibit possession of marijuana if it has a
constitutionally adequate medical program."

Tousaw, a board member of the B.C. Civil Liberties Association, cites
Ontario cases in 2000 and 2007 that he said have weakened the
constitutionality of the MMAR. He said two cases from the Ontario
Court of Appeal in 2003 resulted in about 4,000 federal drug
possession charges being dropped and led to the underground
government-licensed marijuana grow operation conducted in Flin Flon, Man.

A Jan. 10, 2008 decision in the Federal Court adds credence to
Poelzer's challenge, he said. The ruling by Judge Barry Strayer means
growers of medical marijuana are no longer limited to growing pot for
just one patient at a time.

"The federal court said to the federal government that this
restriction is irrational," said Tousaw.

Poelzer, 21, is a reverend of the Church of the Universe, under the
clergy of the Third Eye Mission of God. He said his church,
originally from Ontario, uses cannabis as a sacrament. He was
arrested as he disembarked from the ferry in Langdale, he said, as he
was on his way to perform a ceremony for a group attending the Attack
of Danger Bay longboard race in Pender Harbour.

"This quite often happens to reverends," Poelzer commented.

After representing himself and entering a not guilty plea to the
charge in Sechelt in June, Poelzer was approached by Tousaw and
retained him as his lawyer.

The Crown response to Tousaw's facta (his written argument for the
constitutional challenge) is due by Feb. 15, and the decision on the
constitutional challenge is expected by the spring. There won't be
any oral arguments in the case unless Poelzer needs to appeal a
decision in person, said Tousaw.

Justice Anne Rounthwaite is presiding over the case.