DYING FOR A JOINT

Contradictory Marijuana Laws Mean People Granted Medical Access To Pot Can't
Acquire It Legally

TORONTO -- Terry Parker has been fighting -- and winning --
marijuana-related court cases since the 1970s and there's no end in sight.
"I've already had eight decisions in my favour. There should be a mention of
that in the Guinness Book of Records," Parker said.

"I don't see myself ever stopping as long as there is marijuana prohibition.
I have a conscience, I am aware of people suffering and I'll find some way
to expose the goods here."

The goods are marijuana and Parker, who suffers from violent seizures -- a
symptom of his epilepsy -- is convinced the smoke is the reason he's alive
today.

"The only reason I am surviving is because I consume marijuana," Parker
said. "It controls what would be devastating daily seizures."

The landmark court rulings in Parker's favour are part of a foundation of
court decisions which have systematically stripped away Canada's marijuana
laws, leaving a lot of questions and a need for legislative changes.

- - In 1997, Judge Patrick Sheppard stayed charges of cultivation and
possession of marijuana against Parker after ruling sections of the
Controlled Drug and Substance Act are unconstitutional.

- - In 2000, in a unanimous judgment by Justices Marvin Catzman, Louise
Charron and Marc Rosenberg, the court declared the prohibition of marijuana
possession of no force and therefore unconstitutional. The court ruled that
if Ottawa does not clarify the law within 12 months, the law would be struck
down.

- - In 2003, Ontario Justice Douglas Phillip threw out a marijuana charge in
Windsor against a 16-year-old after lawyer Brian McAllister argued that,
because of the Parker decision, there is effectively no law prohibiting the
possession of 30 grams or less of marijuana.

Despite these decisions, Parker doesn't think he's made a difference.

"There is still prohibition against marijuana, isn't there? The law should
have been changed 50 years ago."

Canada's medicinal marijuana laws are a study in hypocrisy. There is no
legal way for many of those who have been granted a Section 56 exemption to
access marijuana.

Licensed personal-grower criteria are difficult to obtain. Doctors are being
instructed by their representative associations not to prescribe medical
marijuana.

Thousands of patients who have applied under Health Canada's Medical
Marijuana Access Regulations have been denied.

"My Section 56 exemption says I can possess a little bit more than three
ounces of pot at any given time, but it doesn't say I can purchase it and it
doesn't even say I can smoke it. I have no legal way to access it," said
Toronto's Allan Love, a 49-year-old who has HIV and multiple seizure
disorders. "I just want what I feel is fair and right: Give me my medicine."

Love now buys as much as he can afford at $9 per gram from the Toronto
Compassion Centre, a supplier of marijuana for medicinal purposes.

A lawsuit launched by medicinal marijuana users is aiming to abolish the
federal law against possessing and using pot with a constitutional
challenge.

"It's going to be a long process and we don't have time to wait. We're the
generation making the change, but we shouldn't have to die for it," said Stu
Chamney, whose wife, Marylynne, 37, is one of the plaintiffs in the lawsuit.
She suffers from seizures that are controlled by marijuana.

The family has spent $100,000 during the past six years on her medical
marijuana, which has left them bankrupt.

But in a twist, Marylynne and the seven others named in the suit -- chronic
pain sufferers -- are not suing the federal government for money -- just
access to safe, affordable marijuana for treatment.

"It shows just how principled these people are," said Alan Young, one of the
country's crusading pot lawyers.

The civil suit demands three remedies:

- - Strike down Health Canada's Medical Marijuana Access Regulations as too
restrictive.

- - End cannabis prohibition.

- - Force Health Canada to distribute pot grown by Prairie Plant Systems --
the government-contracted grow operation in Flin Flon, Man. -- to med-pot
patients.

Noting a Sun-Leger poll showing a vast majority of Canadians want lighter
marijuana laws, Young said pot prohibition has been a failure in democracy.

"The numbers, in terms of support for marijuana law reforms, have been
consistent since 1975," Young said.

"There has been a great deal of consensus in the country, but without the
ongoing litigation, I am not convinced there would be any political will to
make changes happen."

In another case Young worked on earlier this year, Justice Sydney Lederman
declared the current medical marijuana regulations unconstitutional but gave
the government an ultimatum -- fix the law or supply the pot itself by July
9.

Young said he isn't yet convinced this is the year Canada will make changes
to marijuana laws.

"We've been down this road. If it was something the government was going to
deal with, it would have been dealt with by now," he said.