ONTARIO COPS TOLD TO ENFORCE POT POSSESSION LAWS

Original Legislation Constitutional, Court Rules

Toronto - The glory days for Ontario marijuana-smokers are over, at
least for now, with police laying possession charges again after
months of turning a blind eye to public toking when pot laws were
temporarily loosened.

Ontario Provincial Police officers have been advised that they can now
enforce Canada's laws against pot possession after a court ruling last
week clarified that those laws were constitutional.

Supt. Bill Crate, director of corporate communications for the force,
said Thursday that officers have been told that they can now enforce
the law - which had been suspended since earlier this year due to a
previous court ruling.

"What the ruling means for us is it's basically clarified that simple
possession . . . is constitutionally valid and now subject to the full
force and effect of the law."

"We can now as police in Ontario enforce that law accordingly," he
said.

Ontario's pot-possession laws were called into question earlier this
year by a case in which an Ontario Court judge in Windsor threw out a
marijuana-possession charge against a 16-year-old boy.

The boy's lawyer successfully argued that since there was no effective
program for sick people to possess medical marijuana without breaking
the law, then the law didn't prohibit possession. That ruling was
upheld on appeal in May.

But an Ontario Court of Appeal ruling on Oct. 7 struck down parts of
the federal government's medical marijuana access program, thereby
making it - in the court's eyes - effective and constitutionally
valid. By fixing the medical-marijuana program, the court ruling made
the pot-possession laws constitutionally valid again.

That ruling effectively sealed a legal loophole.

"They've now been given a green light," said Alan Young, a lawyer and
longtime legalization advocate who represented medical marijuana-users
in the most recent case.

Although police officers are only doing their jobs in upholding
pot-possession laws, Young said that some enforcement agencies have
voiced dissatisfaction with the law and have suggested it's a burden
on their resources.

"This is an ideal occasion for them to make their political views
clearer and actually tell the government that they're not interested
in enforcing the law anymore," Young said.

The advisory was sent out to provincial police officers last week
after the ruling, Crate said, but information wasn't readily available
Thursday about the number of pot-possession charges laid since then.

Sgt. Jim Muscat, a spokesman for the Metro Toronto Police Department,
the province's largest municipal police force, was also unable to
provide numbers on how many pot-possession charges have been laid
since last week, but said his officers would uphold the law.

"We're treating it the way we treated it before," he said. "The law is
in effect."

York Regional police, north of Toronto, also said they would start
laying possession charges but wouldn't investigate any possession
incidents before last week's ruling.

The pot-smoking climate already appears to have changed in Toronto -
at a Radiohead concert at SkyDome on Wednesday night, security guards
were seen escorting some concert-goers out of the venue after they
were spotted smoking up, in marked contrast to the summer months.

However, those apprehended by police for possessing pot during the
time when the law was in question may get a break.

While the validity of the law was in doubt, provincial police officers
were told in a June 6 advisory that in cases of simple pot possession,
they should seize the marijuana but not lay charges.

Now, officers are being told to ask the Crown's advice regarding
laying charges for any of those instances, Crate said.

"It means they may or may not prosecute."

The Ontario Court of Appeal's ruling effectively nixed the attempt to
strike down Canada's pot-possession laws based on deficiencies in the
medical access program, Young said.

But Young added: "It's not over yet. But with limited resources,
there's only so much that we can do."

No decision has been made yet about an appeal, he added.