LET THEM SMOKE POT

Editorials - Tuesday's Ontario Court of Appeal ruling on marijuana should
spur authorities to find ways of providing the drug to medicinal users, but
let's hope it doesn't provoke a police frenzy of rounding up recreational
users for possession.

While the courts and Parliament have moved slowly to permit pot to relieve
suffering of patients with such maladies as AIDS, cancer and multiple
sclerosis, the supply has been woeful because of government-imposed
restrictions.

The result was more suffering for patients as the system laboriously
dithered. Even when they did finally get a meagre supply, some medicinal
users rejected the government-sanctioned weed and went back to black market
sources because of quality issues.

Now, the appeal court has removed idiotic federal Marijuana Medical Access
Regulations that restricted compensation for growers, growing marijuana for
more than one patient and pooling resources with other licensed producers.

It agreed with an earlier Ontario court ruling that Canada's marijuana laws
were unconstitutional because they forced participants to either grow their
own or buy it on the black market.

In addition to injecting some logic into Ottawa's stance on making
medicinal marijuana available, perhaps this week's ruling will affect other
substances -- heroin, for example.

The powerful narcotic has been legal for relieving the gross suffering of
palliative care patients such as those dying of cancer, but champions
including Dr. Ken Walker (who writes a weekly syndicated column carried in
The Sault Star under the name Dr. Gifford Jones) have long complained that
heroin is not readily available for patients.

Anyone who has ever watched a cancer patient suffer under the influence of
weaker drugs and wondered about the difference heroin might make will share
Walker's passion to shake some sense into the medical world on this topic.
We can only hope that the marijuana debate will help.

With its fine-tuning of marijuana availability, the appeal court reinstated
the law against simple possession. Police seem to be treading cautiously
rather than going on a full-bore crusade against recreational users,
however, and that's good.

Since the possession law was ruled unconstitutional in January, there have
been some childish antics as tokers lit up in parks and in front of police
stations to chide authorities. But the world has not turned upside-down
during that period.

There is really no reason for police to waste their time and resources
pursuing people for simple possession -- there are much worse things that
demand police attention.

Besides, the Supreme Court of Canada is expected to rule this fall on a
different case involving marijuana possession, and Parliament is pondering
legislation to soften penalties. There's no need to tie up police or the
courts in a rush to prosecute tokers when the rules could change so soon.

That being said, in the meantime police should apply the current law
consistently and lay charges when they come across abusers in public. That
might at least stop the silly and provocative demonstrations.