cannabisnews.com: Drug Policy Exposes Justice System To Ridicule





Drug Policy Exposes Justice System To Ridicule
Posted by FoM on January 09, 2002 at 17:48:34 PT
Editorial
Source: Independent Online
Could any drug-induced hallucination ever be quite so bizarre as the medical marijuana policy which has been cooked up by Canada's legal establishment? That would be quite a stretch …. To be sure, there is at least some measure of good intention in the current law. Justice Minister Allan Rock has championed provisions to allow gravely ill persons, with the approval of their doctors, to consume marijuana for relief of their chronic conditions, when all other remedies have failed. 
However, even after patients have jumped through all the hoops to obtain legal permission to use marijuana, there is still the problem of where to obtain the herb. After all, only a minority of affected patients (or "exemptees") have either the health or the resources to grow their own gardens. In a reasonable world, that wouldn't be much of a problem. There are thousands of gardeners across the nation who could quite capably produce crops of quality marijuana, which grows quite readily in the temperate zones of Canada. The supply crisis for medical marijuana is highly unnatural, resulting simply from archaic laws which make growing the herb a criminal offence. The federal response to this law-induced problem breaks new ground in the annals of government-sponsored inanities. Our tax dollars are now being used to grow marijuana, not in private citizens' gardens or greenhouses, but deep underground, in a mine shaft, in northern Manitoba. Until this crop is ready, most exemptees have no legal source of the medicine to which they are legally entitled. This national absurdity was echoed on a local level this week, when medical marijuana exemptees appeared in a Cobourg court. They had all been expecting to receive marijuana from Cramahe Township grower Dianne Bruce. After Bruce was arrested, and her crop seized, some exemptees petitioned the courts to return their portion of the medicine. At the end of a long day at the Cobourg court house on Monday, Justice Rhys Morgan took just a few minutes to dismiss the hopes of the long-suffering people before him. Morgan stated that the marijuana could not be released, because it is needed as evidence when Bruce's case eventually makes its way through the court dockets. Evidence? Bruce had made it known to the police early last summer that she was growing marijuana, inviting officers to inspect her well-fenced garden. No one needs any further evidence that marijuana was being grown there. But we dearly need some evidence that our courts are capable of rational thinking, when it comes to implementing the supposedly compassionate policy on medical marijuana.Complete Title: Bizarre Drug Policy Exposes Justice System To Ridicule Newshawk: puff_tuffSource: Independent Online (CN ON)Published: January 9, 2002Copyright 1998--2002, Conolly Publishing Ltd.Contact: letters eastnorthumberland.comWebsite: http://www.eastnorthumberland.com/Related Articles & Web Site:FTE's Canadian Linkshttp://freedomtoexhale.com/can.htmMarijuana Exemptees Wait Seven Hours http://cannabisnews.com/news/thread11719.shtmlJoint Submission http://cannabisnews.com/news/thread11709.shtml
Home Comment Email Register Recent Comments Help




Comment #4 posted by Dark Star on January 10, 2002 at 04:11:04 PT
Odd Man Out
Compare and contrast the situations espoused in Canada and Scotland with what is happening in the USA. An article of this type might lead the editor to lose his head, or would it? Few have sought to find out. They might be labelled "soft on drugs," or worse, a "terrorist."Meanwhile, our linguistic sisters and brothers are beginning to enjoy the type of American freedom we have always claimed ideologically, but rarely practice.
[ Post Comment ]


Comment #3 posted by FoM on January 09, 2002 at 22:01:12 PT
EJ, Here it is!
Why Can’t We Have Cannabis Cafes Here? http://www.cannabisnews.com/news/thread11721.shtml
[ Post Comment ]


Comment #2 posted by FoM on January 09, 2002 at 21:41:50 PT
EJ  I'll go see
I'll go check it out! I don't mind registering. I hope they didn't make it a pay site but I'll go look. Keep your fingers crossed.
[ Post Comment ]


Comment #1 posted by E_Johnson on January 09, 2002 at 21:32:29 PT
Cafe editorial in Scotsman?
Supposedly on January 9 The Scotsman published a positive editorial on cannabis cafes, but now it's only available to registered users so I couldn't read it.
[ Post Comment ]


Post Comment