POT DECRIMINALIZED IN B.C.

VANCOUVER - A B.C. provincial court decriminalized possession of marijuana
Monday.

In a ruling, the court said "there is no offence known to law at this time
for simple possession of marijuana."

The decision follows similar rulings in Ontario, P.E.I. and Nova Scotia. It
relies on an July 2000 decision by the Ontario Court of Appeal in which the
judge declared the law prohibiting simple possession to be constitutionally
invalid because it did not have an exemption for medical use.

The defendant was an epileptic who said he needed cannabis to control
life-threatening seizures.

Parliament was given one year to deal with the legal loophole and it came
up with the Medical Marijuana Access Regulations. But the Ontario and B.C.
courts have said that wasn't enough, noting the regulations don't have the
force of law and can be amended without debate. As a result, the law
prohibiting possession was held to have been stricken from the books by the
ruling in the Ontario case.