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News (Media Awareness Project) - CN BC: Date Set For Court Pot Challenge
Title:CN BC: Date Set For Court Pot Challenge
Published On:2003-03-23
Source:Surrey Leader (CN BC)
Fetched On:2008-01-20 21:37:55
DATE SET FOR COURT POT CHALLENGE

A former Surrey Marijuana Party Candidate and pot activists' Supreme Court
challenge of the constitutionality of Canada's pot laws has been scheduled
for May 6 in Ottawa.

It's the last stop in what has been a lengthy legal battle for Randy Caine,
the Marijuana Party Candidate for the Surrey-Panorama Ridge provincial
riding who was convicted in 1993 for the possession of a half-smoked joint
in White Rock.

A 10-year-resident of Surrey before he moved to Langley, Caine used to run
The Joint coffee shop "hemporium" in Fleetwood which was shut down after a
well-publicized series of run-ins with Surrey city hall.

Caine's case is one of three to be heard together by the high court, which
originally planned to deal with the issue in December of 2002, but was
postponed because of reports the federal government was planning to
introduce legislation to decriminalize marijuana. Federal Justice Minister
Martin Cauchon made front-page headlines when he told reporters Ottawa
intended to move ahead with decriminalization "within the first four months
of the New Year (2003)."

While there has been speculation about possible new federal laws, nothing
official has been announced since then.

Caine's lawyer, John Conroy, said he hopes there are no further
postponements and the case proceeds as planned.

If the government does decriminalize pot, Conroy said the legislation
should include an amnesty for people previously convicted.
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