JUDGE TO RULE ON VALIDITY OF FEDERAL MARIJUANA LAWS

Crown Claims Possession Is A Crime Except With Medical Authorization

Windsor, Ont. - An Ontario judge says he will rule next week on the
question of whether Canada's laws that make it illegal to possess small
amounts of marijuana are invalid.

Ontario Court Justice Douglas Phillips said he will have a decision Jan. 2
in the case of a 16-year-old youth who was charged in April with possession
of marijuana.

Phillips heard legal arguments Friday by lawyer Brian McAllister, who is
representing the youth, and federal drug prosecutor Ed Posliff.

McAllister brought forward an application to have the drug charges dropped,
asserting the Controlled Drugs and Substances Act no longer prohibits the
simple possession of marijuana by virtue of an earlier decision in the
Ontario Court of Appeal.

In that case, the appeal court struck down the federal law prohibiting the
possession of less than 30 grams of marijuana.

The court found in the case of Terry Parker of Toronto that the law
violated the rights of sick people who use marijuana for medical reasons.

It declared the law invalid, but it suspended the declaration of invalidity
for a year to allow the government time to revamp the law and correct the
problem.

In response, the federal government passed the Marijuana Medical Access
Regulations, which allow marijuana use for medical reasons under certain
circumstances.

But McAllister said that wasn't enough. He said it was incumbent on
Parliament to re-enact the marijuana possession section in the drug law
once the new regulation was in effect. Without that action, there is no
valid law, McAllister argued, because the appeal court ruled it to be invalid.

The Crown doesn't see it that way.

"Our position is it continues to be a crime to possess marijuana except if
you have proper medical authorization," Posliff said.

Posliff argued the law still stands, despite McAllister's assertion that
Parliament needed to re-enact the law.

"Only Parliament can repeal its own acts," Posliff said. "A court cannot
repeal an act of Parliament. All it can say is, if it offends the
constitution or the charter, it's of no force or effect. But the section
still remains."

Because Parliament addressed the question of medical use through a separate
regulation, nothing else needed to be done to the section in the drug act
dealing with marijuana possession, Posliff said.

If Phillips rules in his favour, McAllister said the decision will not be
binding on other courts. But "it would have a persuasive affect. It would
be open to anybody else to make the same argument in another court."

McAllister's client, who can't be identified because of his age, was
charged with possessing less than 30 grams of marijuana when he was stopped
by police in Kingsville, Ont.