POT LAWS GET SMOKED

Ontario Judges Say Simple Possession Law Is Gone

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.

"Anyone charged with simple possession of marijuana in this city should be
on their phones to their lawyers this afternoon telling them to get into
court and get these charges thrown out," said lawyer Aaron Harnett who won
the argument.

Moore said it's a "simple and straightforward" matter and Harnett's
argument was "common sense."

The Windsor decision flowed from a July 2000 Court of Appeal ruling that
gave Parliament a year to amend the law or it'd fall off the books.
Parliament didn't, and instead regulations were installed that Justice
Sidney Lederman found unconstitutional this week. Harnett said pot laws are
"under attack from all sides now."