POT POSSESSION CASES PUT OFF

Judge Awaits Decision In Windsor Case

A local judge is refusing to hear cases of pot possession until a potential
precedent-setting case is decided in Windsor.

Ontario Justice Bruce Thomas, Chatham's presiding provincial court judge,
said the Windsor case will be argued Friday.

He said the argument that's being made by defence counsel in the case
centres around an Ontario Court of Appeal decision from July 2000, in which
the marijuana possession section of Canada's Controlled Drugs and
Substances Act was declared invalid.

The appeal court decision upheld a lower-court ruling in the case of
Terrance Parker, a 44-year-old epileptic who won the right to smoke the
drug to control his seizures.

It gave Parliament a year in which pot possession remained illegal to amend
the section or lose it.

That year has come and gone.

Thomas said the Windsor case is asking a provincial court judge to say
there is no offence of possession of marijuana in Ontario right now.

"I'm not hearing that case, the argument's not being made to me, but in
looking at it from the outside it appears to be a fairly compelling
argument," Thomas said.

"I want to hear the results of the case, including what the government's
response and the Crown's response to that application (is).

"I don't want to be convicting individuals of the offence now that I know
about the argument, until I have the results of the decision and am able to
really assess it myself."

Thomas admitted that it's hard to say what effect the Windsor decision
would have on cases in his courtroom.

"We're not bound by another judge's decision in our court so I, and
presumably others, would have to look at (the judge's) reasoning and look
at the arguments that were presented to (the judge) and see whether we
agree one way or another," he explained.

"You can bet that if the defence is successful then that issue will be
raised in front of me regularly on the same type of case by other lawyers."

Thomas added that if the Crown attorney in Windsor is successful, then the
argument will be used by the Kent Crown if the issue arises here.

He said visiting justices who sit in Chatham can decide on their own
whether to hear those types of cases.