POT CASE TOSSED

Second Ontario Judge Says No Law Was Broken

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 or less of marijuana.

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.

Barnes is also charged with dangerously driving his motorcycle in gridlock
in downtown Toronto on July 2002. It was in the course of his arrest the
pot allegation arose.

The Windsor decision flowed from a July 2000 Court of Appeal ruling that
gave Parliament a year to amend the law or it would fall off the books.
Parliament didn't and instead regulations were installed that Justice
Sidney Lederman found unconstitutional this week.

Court heard the Windsor case will be appealed by the Crown on Feb. 21.

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