LAWYER PLOTS POT OPERATION

Ontario Court Ruling Sparks Idea For Marijuana-Growing Warehouse

KITCHENER - A Toronto-based cannabis crusader said yesterday he intends to
establish a warehouse where thousands of pot plants can be grown after
Ontario Court of Appeal judges struck down some of the federal government's
medicinal-marijuana regulations.

Law professor Alan Young represents Catherine Devries, 45, of Kitchener and
other medicinal-marijuana users.

He said the warehouse proposal, financed by bankers and stockbrokers,
follows recommendations by three judges who say drug laws should be
liberalized so medicinal users are guaranteed a safe supply.

The judges ruled yesterday that some sections of the government drug
program should be struck down because they are unconstitutional and unfair
to people like Devries and 600 other medicinal-pot users.

Devries says smoking cannabis eases pain and severe nausea caused by a
variety of spine and bowel conditions.

She said she has mixed feelings about yesterday's ruling.

She is pleased to see judges validate the fact sick people benefit from
smoking pot but is disappointed she won't have an uncomplicated,
inexpensive way to buy marijuana.

She is also concerned authorities won't be able to police legal or illegal
home-grow operations.

Young said in a telephone interview he hopes his warehouse will be open by
spring to help people like Devries as it takes advantage of a developing
marijuana market and provides another move toward decriminalization of pot.

The appeal court judges said restrictions faced by Devries and other
medicinal-marijuana users expose them to risk of physical violence and
"dehumanizing and humiliating" experiences by forcing them to go to the
streets and buy dope from criminal drug dealers.

In a judgment following an appeal by Devries and other medicinal-marijuana
users, the judges recommended that the government change drug regulations
and make it legal for licensed growers to produce cannabis for medicinal users.

Young, who believes judges "wanted to make it easy on government, " said
the judgment should also end sporadic prosecution of so-called compassion
clubs in Toronto and other Canadian cities that collect and sell pot to
people allowed to smoke it for medical reasons.

He said judges have removed pressure from the government because they set
no deadline for recommended changes and made no reference to Ottawa
providing marijuana from a government crop developed in a mineshaft at Flin
Flon, Man.

After noting medicinal-marijuana users face risks of being cheated and sold
tainted product by street dope dealers, judges said "many of these
individuals are not only seriously ill, they are also significantly
physically handicapped (and) cannot possibly grow their own marijuana.

"The court concluded that a scheme that authorizes possession of marijuana
by seriously ill individuals but which drives some of them to the black
market to meet their recognized medical needs undermines the rule of law
and fails to create a constitutionally valid medical exemption to the
criminal prohibition against possession of marijuana," judges said.

GROWERS SHOULD BE PAID

They ruled the government should change existing regulations so that any
licensed cannabis grower can be paid for growing and supplying marijuana.

They also said regulations should be rewritten so growers can produce
medicinal marijuana for more than one user and be allowed to join forces
with other licence holders to produce larger crops.

Judges also rejected an associated appeal that said Canadian law
prohibiting the possession of cannabis was no longer in force because of
Ottawa's failure to incorporate medical-marijuana access regulations into
existing drug legislation.

Their recommended changes would reinstate a provision in Canadian drug laws
that prohibits possession of small amounts of marijuana, something that
pleased police.

Staff Sgt. Bryan Larkin, a spokesman for Waterloo regional police, said
results of the court decision remain uncertain.

But, he added, making possession of marijuana illegal after temporarily
suspending charges "is fraught with confusion for the public."