POT SMOKERS GET REPRIEVE

NRP Won'T Lay Charges For Simple Possession

Local News - For the time being, Niagara Regional Police won't be charging
people with simple possession of marijuana.

Following a call from the Ontario Association of Chiefs of Police in the
wake of a recent court ruling, Niagara officers have been told to merely
treat small amounts of marijuana as contraband to be seized.

"We will take possession of it," said Chief Gary Nicholls in an interview
Friday.

Nicholls said officers have been instructed to take information and fill
out the appropriate documents in the hopes that possession charges can be
laid "once this matter is resolved."

But that depends on the outcome of a Department of Justice appeal of a
Superior Court ruling last month that found the existing possession law is
no longer valid.

"We are certainly not being supported by the justice system in processing
the charges," said Nicholls. "Given that reality, I think we are taking
what we believe to be a responsible course of action while this interim
situation exists.

"We could not simply leave our officers out there without clear direction
on what our expectations were given the confused state around the law."

On May 16, a Windsor judge ruled that possessing less than 30 grams of
marijuana is no longer against the law in Ontario. In that decision, the
judge noted the lack of parliamentary response to an earlier court decision.

As a result of the Windsor decision, many Ontario courts are either
dismissing charges of simple possession or staying proceedings until this
area of the law is clarified.

A motion by the federal government to stay that decision is expected to be
made in the Ontario Court of Appeal next week. If the motion is passed, the
existing pot laws would be enforceable pending the appeal.

"Unfortunately, the federal government's obvious inaction in this situation
has only served to further exacerbate the inappropriate message sent to the
community regarding the risks associated with the use of this harmful
substance," Nicholls said in a statement.

Hamilton police, however, continue to lay charges for simple possession.
But local justices of the peace are refusing to process the charges in court.

Even older charges that appeared on the drug-court docket Friday were being
tossed out.

Justice of the peace Wendy Casey quashed any charge under the Controlled
Drugs and Substances Act for possession of less than 30 grams of marijuana.
She declared them legally invalid, effectively halting half a dozen federal
drug cases.