FIX MEDICAL-POT REGULATIONS IN SIX MONTHS, OTTAWA TOLD

An Ontario Judge Set The Time Limit In Ruling The Current Scheme
Unconstitutional.

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 let people smoke medicinal marijuana, then force them to
get the drug from the corner drug dealer, which is what the scheme 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 Ottawa 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, who argued the case.

"It's another nail in the coffin, and this is a big nail," an elated Young
said after learning of the ruling.

"We feel it will be appealed, but it's the light at the end of the tunnel .
. . I can't really see the law maintaining any operation after this year.
It's sitting on a really precarious foundation."

The regulations are supposed to give eligible people an exemption from the
Controlled Drugs and Substances Act, the law that makes possession of pot
illegal for everyone else.

Instead, Young argued in September, the regulations are so snarled in red
tape they discriminate against the people they're supposed to help: those
who smoke pot to ease the symptoms of their condition.

Since the Ontario Court of Appeal has already upheld the right of sick
people to smoke pot to ease their symptoms, Young said the law will
effectively be invalid if Lederman's ruling survives an appeal.

Young said he fielded phone calls all day from supporters of his clients,
seven people from across Ontario who use pot to contend with a variety of
ailments, including multiple sclerosis and hepatitis C.

"Everyone's overjoyed; I'm getting calls from across the country from this
pot world."

"They can't get out of bed in the morning, but they can get this news very
quickly."

Justice Department spokes-person Dorette Pollard said federal lawyers were
perusing the judgment and expected to advise Health Minister Anne McLellan
what steps to take. "They're reviewing the decision, and will advise the
minister accordingly."