JUDGE STUBS OUT POT CHARGES

TORONTO - A second Ontario judge has "pounded another stake in the
heart" of Canada's pot law, finding there is nothing on the books
forbidding the possession of small amounts of dope.

Ontario Court of Justice Judge John Moore yesterday threw out a simple
possession charge against a 40-year-old man with no criminal record
who was alleged to have had the equivalent of a joint in his pocket.

Moore agreed with his Windsor colleague Justice Douglas Phillips, who
on Jan. 2 found there are no laws in Canada prohibiting the possession
of 30 grams of marijuana or less.

Moore found that the law as it currently stands in Ontario "no longer
exists." Thus, he said, the charge against Martin Barnes is "an
offence not known to law" and is null and void.

"Justice Moore pounded another stake into the heart of the marijuana
laws today," Barnes' lawyer, Aaron Harnett, said.