B.C. GOVT. APPEALING POT RULING

VANCOUVER -- A B.C. provincial court judge's ruling that the law governing
marijuana possession is invalid will be appealed, a spokesman for the
federal Justice Department said yesterday.

A notice to appeal has been filed, said Lyse Cantin, spokesman for the
department's B.C. region.

Police and the B.C. solicitor general were quick to insist earlier this
week the ruling does not make marijuana possession legal and is not binding
on other judges.

Ironically, the appeal was celebrated by the B.C. Marijuana Party.

"That's a good thing for everyone, I would think," said spokesman Marc
Emery, who was planning a pot-smoking protest outside Vancouver police
headquarters yesterday.

"It'll be appealed to B.C. Supreme Court and they'll rule in the favour of
the judge," he predicted, calling the Sept. 4 ruling "iron-clad."

"They're not going to come to a different decision and that will be binding
on all the judges in B.C., so that's good."

Emery said his group will continue to pass out copies of the ruling.

"Marijuana possession is legal in B.C., absolutely," he said. "We're
telling everybody."

Recent court decisions in Ontario have struck down laws that made simple
possession of cannabis a criminal offence.