GRASS LAWS GET BURNED

TORONTO -- The laws prohibiting marijuana possession in Canada continued to
crumble yesterday as an Ontario judge declared unconstitutional Ottawa's
scheme to allow the use of pot for medical reasons.

It's not fair to allow people to smoke medicinal marijuana, then force them
to get the drug from the corner drug dealer, which is what the scheme
effectively does, said Superior Court Justice Sidney Lederman.

"Laws which put seriously ill, vulnerable people in a position where they
have to deal with the criminal underworld to obtain medicine they have been
authorized to take violate the constitutional right to security of the
person," Lederman wrote in a 40-page ruling.

"I have grave reservations about a regime which ...grants legal access by
relying on drug dealers to supply and distribute the required medicine."

Lederman gave the federal government six months to fix the regulations,
after which time they will be "of no force and effect."

The decision is another clear sign the laws prohibiting possession of small
amounts of marijuana are toppling, said lawyer and long-time cannabis
crusader Alan Young.