MARIJUANA LAW NOT VALID: ONTARIO JUDGE

An Ontario judge has ruled that federal laws against marijuana
possession are no longer valid, a decision that could eventually
affect the whole country.

Judge Douglas Phillips made the decision in Windsor January 2, but by
the next day, Ottawa had announced it was appealing the ruling,
according to globeandmail.com. In his decision, Judge Phillips said a
previous Ontario Court of Appeal Ruling had required Parliament to
pass new marijuana laws. That has not happened, so he ruled that the
current possession laws are invalid.

Here on the islands, Queen Charlotte resident Ken Peerless, who ran
for the Marijuana Party of BC in the last provincial election, said
Canada's drug laws definitely need an overhaul. He cautioned that the
ruling does not yet affect anyone except the teenager charged in the
Ontario case.

"The Liberal government is between a rock and a hard place," he said,
speculating that although most Canadians and their politicians want to
decriminalize marijuana, the government is facing pressure from the
United States to keep firm laws in place.

"Islanders would be a whole lot happier if it was decriminalized,
legalized," Mr. Peerless said, "And people who don't smoke pot don't
give a rat's ass."