SUMMER POT POSSESSORS COULD STILL BE CHARGED

Last week's Ontario Court of Appeal decision restoring a federal narcotics
law means people could still be charged if they were caught possessing small
amounts of marijuana this summer.

In early May, Ontario Superior court justice Steven Rogin upheld a lower
court ruling which said the federal government had failed in its obligation
to change the narcotics law to allow marijuana to be used for medical
reasons. In doing so, he agreed the entire law was void.

The justice's decision meant no one in Ontario could be convicted of
marijuana possession. The federal government appealed Rogin's decision and
last Tuesday the appeal court upheld the narcotics law, making it once again
an offence to possess marijuana for recreational purposes within Ontario.

Prior to last Tuesday's appeal court ruling, which now allows medical users
to grow their own pot or to obtain it from designated growers, possession of
less than 30 grams of marijuana was not a convictable offence within
Ontario.

Last Wednesday, Bracebridge OPP detachment Inspector Mike Armstrong said his
officers hadn't changed the way they dealt with drug possession during the
summer's "limbo" period.

"We could have charged them, but we were directed by the Ministry of the
Attorney General not to lay charges until the appeal court reached a
decision," he said. "We continued to seize the marijuana and proceeded as if
we were going to lay a charge."

Rogin's decision and proposed federal legislation both called for the
decriminalization of small amounts of marijuana. Under the proposed new law,
anyone caught possessing less than 15 grams of marijuana would receive a
fine rather than a criminal record.

Asked if people who were caught possessing under 30 grams between May 16 and
last week would now be charged locally, Armstrong said: "They may be. We'll
look at it on a case-by-case basis."

The inspector indicated that people in Muskoka did not blatantly attempt to
take advantage of the struck-down law over the summer. If some did, they
were isolated incidents, he said. "I don't think our drug seizures shot up
dramatically in this jurisdiction," he stated.