cannabisnews.com: Court Ruling Prompts Pot-Delivery Service





Court Ruling Prompts Pot-Delivery Service
Posted by CN Staff on December 19, 2002 at 23:10:49 PT
By Ingrid Peritz
Source: Globe and Mail 
Pot in Canada may soon be a click away with the launch of a home-delivery service for medical marijuana over the Internet.Marijuana activists in Montreal announced the start-up of -- http://www.marijuanahomedelivery.ca -- shortly after a Quebec judge threw out possession and trafficking charges Thursday against two volunteers at a medical marijuana club.
Quebec Court Judge Gilles Cadieux said authorizing those who are ill to use marijuana in Canada while depriving them of a legal source violates the right to life and liberty under the Charter.Judge Cadieux stopped short of invalidating Canada's pot laws, saying such a decision is up to higher courts. But he ordered a stay of proceedings against Alexandre Néron and Marc-Boris St-Maurice, who faced charges of possession and trafficking after Montreal police raided their Compassion Club in 2000 and seized marijuana.Mr. St-Maurice immediately declared a moral victory and convened a news conference to announce the launch of a new marijuana-by-mail service for the ill in Canada, opening a new frontier in the challenge to the country's pot laws."We want to serve every person in Canada who needs it," Mr. St-Maurice, head of the Marijuana Party of Canada, said in an interview. "Marijuana is an effective medicine that works wonders, and there are a lot of people who could benefit from it and are not getting it."The price of the high-grade therapeutic pot would be competitive with street prices, he said: $30 for two grams or $120 for 10 grams. To register, customers have to fill out a form and obtain a doctor's letter diagnosing them with any one of the more than 200 ailments listed on the group's Web site.Some of the ailments on the list are already raising eyebrows. They include everything from major illnesses such as AIDS and cancer to foot injuries, lower-back pain, constipation and the hiccups.To date, most Canadian doctors refuse to prescribe marijuana. With this service, Mr. St-Maurice said, customers wouldn't need a prescription, just a doctor's letter saying they suffer from one of the ailments.He acknowledged that the Internet service is meant to prod the federal government to offer ill Canadians a federal supply of medicinal marijuana. If Ottawa acts, he said, the mail service will end.The home-delivery service — which bills itself as the first on-line provider of therapeutic cannabis — guarantees delivery anywhere in Canada in two weeks, or it will mail another package. Mr. St-Maurice said he especially wants to help people in rural areas who lack access to compassion clubs in major cities."We think there are millions of Canadians who could benefit," he said. The Marijuana Party's plan does not sit well with Canada Post. Spokeswoman Louise Roy said Judge Cadieux's ruling merely halted proceedings against the two accused, but Canada's drug laws remain on the books."Anything illegal under the Criminal Code is also forbidden by Canada Post," she said. Postal authorities could notify police if they have "reasonable grounds" for suspecting marijuana is being sent through the mail, she added.Mr. Néron and Mr. St-Maurice began their legal battle in February of 2000 when police raided their storefront operation in Montreal and confiscated 66 grams of marijuana. The club had been serving patients with doctors' notes or prescriptions.But Mr. St-Maurice and Mr. Néron were charged before the federal government created its medical-marijuana program last year. That program had been prompted by the landmark Ontario Court of Appeal ruling upholding the right of Torontonian Terry Parker to smoke pot to ease his epileptic seizures. The court gave the government 12 months to amend the law that made it illegal for sick people to possess pot.Health Canada decided to include an exemption to Canadian drug laws allowing some people to use marijuana to relieve serious ailments. However, the Criminal Code makes it illegal for them to buy the drug.About 200 kilograms of cannabis grown with the federal government's approval in an abandoned Manitoba mine languishes in storage and will not be used for patients, Health Canada says.Pot activists have voiced growing frustration about the situation, saying federal regulations make it nearly impossible for the ill to get medical marijuana legally.On Thursday, Pierre Léger, the lawyer for the two Montreal pot activists, said Judge Cadieux's ruling establishes an important legal precedent."It's never been stated in a criminal court that individuals may be justified in trafficking marijuana to help the sick and needy," he said in an interview.But he called the ruling a compromise because Canadian marijuana laws still stand, exposing the Compassion Club to further police actions. "There's nothing to stop police from going back and arresting them again." Mr. Léger said.Source: Globe and Mail (Canada)Author:  Ingrid PeritzPublished: Friday, December 20, 2002Copyright: 2002 The Globe and Mail CompanyContact: letters globeandmail.caWebsite: http://www.globeandmail.com/Related Articles & Web Sites:Marijuana Party http://www.marijuanaparty.org/Marijuana Home Deliveryhttp://www.marijuanahomedelivery.caMontreal Compassion Clubhttp://www.blocpot.qc.ca/ccm/english.htmlQuebec Judge Calls Halt To Medicinal Pot Trialhttp://cannabisnews.com/news/thread15018.shtmlOne-Click Marijuana Shopping for Sick Canadians http://cannabisnews.com/news/thread15017.shtmlQuebec Judge Throws Out Pot Case http://cannabisnews.com/news/thread15015.shtml 
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Comment #5 posted by p4me on December 20, 2002 at 08:20:08 PT
Cursor.org alerts readers MPP wants Walters gone
This is now up at cursor.org:The Marijuana Policy Project wants to oust U.S. Drug Czar John Walters for "illegal and dishonest activities" in campaigning against Nevada's marijuana ballot initiative. The project's director goes on "The O'Reilly Factor" Friday night to discuss the war on Walters.The link built into the paragraph does not show, although it does have a link to here- http://www.talkleft.com/archives/001686.html#001686Ask Walters if the taxpayers can have their money back for his salary.1
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Comment #4 posted by ErikGhint on December 20, 2002 at 08:11:44 PT
agreed
I agree with you readitall. It seems like there more trying to become the first internet drug dealers, then the medicinal distributors. Still it is much better then having nothing.
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Comment #3 posted by readitall on December 20, 2002 at 06:55:59 PT:
Prices are off base!
Why charge street prices to the sick? It does not cost that much to produce the product so being competitive toward street prices will shame your ideas. The sick are usally financially burdened. The sick are what need the product not the rich!
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Comment #2 posted by ErikGhint on December 20, 2002 at 06:27:08 PT
just like to point out something
They say the will not dispense the pot the grew in manitoba. That is because its all ashes now, as the set it a blaze. Furthermore when they told us the seeds came from RCMP drug raids they lied. The seeds were donated to them. From a reliable source.
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Comment #1 posted by Richard Lake on December 20, 2002 at 00:04:18 PT:
Cannabis in the News
Just sent the following out to about 60 email discussion lists. Am I having fun yet?-------Below are some of the news items about cannabis from the press which are among the most frequently read by folks accessing the MAP news archives out of about 300 posted in the last week. They are in no special order, but because of the much larger number of popular items from Canada as a result of the news there, I have broken it into two groups, outside Canada first, and then Canada.Folks have written asking why some are more popular than others. While I am just taking a guess, some are I think because of a headline that catches the eye, but some because they make good targets for our many Letter to the Editor writers.The most popular are read by tens of thousands of folks. Readers come from over a hundred countries, but the majority are from the United States, with a significant share from Canada.Please don't think I will make a list like this every week. It is something I do for fun once and a while, on those rare days that I am slightly caught up on my other projects - or just feel the need to do something different.US CA: Jeff Jones Guilty Of Leafleting
URL: http://www.mapinc.org/drugnews/v02/n2289/a01.htmlUS CA: Marijuana As Mitzvah
URL: http://www.mapinc.org/drugnews/v02/n2288/a10.htmlUS CA: Federal Court Considers Pot Arguments
URL: http://www.mapinc.org/drugnews/v02/n2283/a11.htmlUS NJ: PUB LTE: Video Documents The Necessity For Medical Marijuana
URL: http://www.mapinc.org/drugnews/v02/n2278/a05.htmlAustralia: PUB LTE: Bans Don't Work
URL: http://www.mapinc.org/drugnews/v02/n2273/a04.htmlUS CA: The Terror War On Drugs
URL: http://www.mapinc.org/drugnews/v02/n2270/a09.htmlUS SC: PUB LTE: Medical Marijuana
URL: http://www.mapinc.org/drugnews/v02/n2293/a04.htmlNot all that is important makes the news, of course. This note I just received is a example:SAN DIEGO, Dec 19th. The DEA held a press conference today where it threatened to arrest anyone who grows medical marijuana, regardless of Prop. 215. "Marijuana does not have medicinal properties," said DEA special agent Michael Vigil, "There are other drugs that can be provided." The DEA added that federal law always supersedes local law.
    The San Diego DEA has been working with local anti-drug groups to block the city council from adopting medical marijuana guidelines proposed by the city's task force. Local activists say that San Diego police have also been working with DEA to try to bust medical marijuana growers.
       - D. Gieringer, Cal NORMLProhibitionists fight harder as they see their cause failing.-----CN ON: PUB LTE: Pot Decriminalized In Several US States
URL: http://www.mapinc.org/drugnews/v02/n2292/a06.htmlCanada: Canada and Cannabis: A Pot History
URL: http://www.mapinc.org/drugnews/v02/n2290/a01.htmlCanada: PUB LTE: Potheads in Power
URL: http://www.mapinc.org/drugnews/v02/n2287/a03.htmlCN ON: Editorial: Decriminalize Marijuana Now
URL: http://www.mapinc.org/drugnews/v02/n2286/a08.htmlCanada: Editorial: Decriminalization Of Cannabis Makes Sense
URL: http://www.mapinc.org/drugnews/v02/n2276/a07.htmlCanada: Marijuana Party Boss Fuming
URL: http://www.mapinc.org/drugnews/v02/n2269/a07.htmlCN AB: Editorial: Time To Get Off The Pot
URL: http://www.mapinc.org/drugnews/v02/n2266/a03.htmlCanada: Supreme Court Delays Pot Appeal
URL: http://www.mapinc.org/drugnews/v02/n2262/a07.htmlCanada: OPED: Canada Has It Right On Marijuana
URL: http://www.mapinc.org/drugnews/v02/n2260/a10.htmlCanada: Lawyer Doubts Ottawa's Pot Talk
URL: http://www.mapinc.org/drugnews/v02/n2247/a06.htmlCanada: Wire: One-Click Marijuana Shopping for Sick Canadians
URL: http://www.mapinc.org/drugnews/v02/n2300/a02.htmlHope you have seen this Alert: Please Help Canadians Understand What We Really Believe http://www.mapinc.org/alert/0258.htmlFor Cannabis News with reader comments, please visit our sister website, http://www.cannabisnews.com/Richard Lake
Sr. Editor
DrugNews
www.mapinc.org
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