OPP AWAIT OUTCOME OF POT APPEAL

OPP officers are now using their discretion when it comes to charging
people with simple possession of marijuana.

Acting on a directive from OPP Commissioner Gwen Boniface, local
detachments will seize the marijuana and document the case but not press
charges for possession of 30 grams or less of marijuana, said Insp. Mark
Allen, of the Nottawasaga detachment.

"The laws concerning possession are still on the books," he quoted Boniface
as saying. That means the circumstances of the incident will be recorded,
with a view to possibly laying a charge later on.

In a surprise move, a judge in Barrie this week ordered the dropping of
marijuana possession charges against 16 people, ranging in age from 18 to
40, all in court on separate incidents.

The OPP's stance is the same as the one taken last week by the Ontario
Association of Chiefs of Police.

Both organizations are waiting for clarification of the law by the court of
appeal or the House of Commons.

The case in question is a May 16 decision by Mr. Justice Steven Rogin of
the Ontario Superior Court of Justice, who upheld a lower court decision to
quash a charge against a youth for possessing less than 30 grams of
marijuana because the law is no longer valid.

Since then, judges across Ontario have followed Rogin's lead and thrown out
charges against against people charged with simple possession.

With Rogin's decision being appealed to the Ontario Court of Appeal and the
government's decision to decriminalize the possession of up to 15 grams of
marijuana, the legal situation is murky.

Jim Leising, director of the Department of Justice's federal prosecution
services in Ontario, said federal Crown attorneys, including those in
Simcoe County, have been given direction to adjourn or stay cases involving
simple possession, pending the outcome of the case being heard this week.
before the Ontario Court of Appeal.

- - with files from the Torstar News Service