COURT 'FIXES' POT LAW

TORONTO (CP) - Possessing small amounts of pot is illegal again in Ontario
after an appeal court ruling Tuesday struck down parts of Ottawa's
medicinal marijuana program.

In the process of striking provisions it deemed unconstitutional, the
Ontario Court of Appeal sealed a legal loophole opened in January that had
rendered Canada's pot-possession laws virtually unenforceable.

''That little gap that we had in Ontario where the law did not exist and
police could not arrest you for smoking (marijuana) is over,'' lawyer Alan
Young said outside court.

The court upheld an earlier Ontario Superior Court ruling that found
patients who qualified under the program were unfairly restricted in
obtaining a safe, legal supply of the drug.

But it stopped short of the remedy many advocates had been hoping for:
striking down the law in its entirety.

Instead, the three-judge panel nimbly singled out and struck down specific
provisions of the federal Marijuana Medical Access Regulations in order to
restore the plan's constitutionality.

Those provisions restricted licensed growers from receiving compensation
for their product, growing the drug for more than one qualified patient and
pooling resources with other licensed producers.

It also struck down a requirement that sick people get two doctors to
validate their need to use marijuana as a drug.

Warren Hitzig, founder of the Toronto Compassion Centre, which provides
patients access to marijuana to ease their symptoms, said the changes could
result in fewer restrictions on such facilities.

''For the centres, it puts us in a very good position,'' Hitzig said. ''The
government has run out of many options and this opens up the door.''