cannabisnews.com: Crown Presses Case Against 'Pot Club' Crown Presses Case Against 'Pot Club' Posted by CN Staff on January 29, 2003 at 07:01:22 PT By Shannon Kari, The Ottawa Citizen Source: Ottawa Citizen The federal Justice Department will prosecute two employees of the Toronto Compassion Centre, despite a recent court ruling that such clubs may be a good way to distribute marijuana to people with medical exemptions.A preliminary hearing for Warren Hitzig and Zack Naftolin was set for July 14, after a brief court appearance in Toronto yesterday. Hitzig and Naftolin both face six trafficking-related charges because of their involvement in the centre, which provided medical marijuana for five years before a police raid last summer."This is all about politics," said Hitzig, after learning the Crown would not withdraw the criminal charges. "There are courts saying medical marijuana is important yet the government is not doing anything to help sick people" said Hitzig, who is a student at Concordia University in Montreal.Hitzig was charged after more than a dozen Toronto police officers raided the centre in August, a few days after he testified in a civil suit challenging federal Marijuana Medical Access Regulations.Ontario Superior Court Justice Sidney Lederman ruled earlier this month that the regulations are unconstitutional because medically needy people are required "to rely on black market marijuana." Snipped:Complete Article: http://www.freedomtoexhale.com/cpc.htm Source: Ottawa Citizen (CN ON)Author: Shannon Kari, The Ottawa Citizen Published: Wednesday, January 29, 2003Copyright: 2003 The Ottawa CitizenContact: letters thecitizen.southam.caWebsite: http://www.canada.com/ottawa/ottawacitizen/Related Articles & Web Site:Toronto Compassion Centre http://www.torontocompassioncentre.org/Medicinal Pot Users Protest Club Closurehttp://cannabisnews.com/news/thread13854.shtmlCompassion Centre's Future Unclear http://cannabisnews.com/news/thread13766.shtml Home Comment Email Register Recent Comments Help Comment #2 posted by WolfgangWylde on January 29, 2003 at 07:17:41 PT Call me crazy... (...everybody else does...) but I kind of welcome cases like this in Canada. It clearly shows that the Gov't has no intention of honoring the court ordered agreement on medical marijuana, thus opening the doors for the courts to toss out Prohibition altogether. [ Post Comment ] Comment #1 posted by Ethan Russo MD on January 29, 2003 at 07:14:37 PT: The Rest--- The judge referred to what he called "the problem of the first seed," and noted that there is no legal way for someone with a medical exemption to obtain marijuana."Because they do not provide for a legal source or supply of cannabis," Judge Lederman said the regulations "actually foster the criminal conduct they are supposed to be working against."The judge suspended his ruling for six months to give the government time to find a way to distribute a legal supply of marijuana."The government might consider creating properly regulated distribution centres or licensing compassion clubs," said Judge Lederman.Last month a judge in Quebec threw out trafficking charges against organizers of a Montreal compassion club, also because of the lack of a legal source for marijuana.Hitzig's lawyer, Paul Burstein, said yesterday there is no evidence the Toronto centre sold marijuana to people without documentation to show they needed it for medical reasons."This is a waste of taxpayers' money" said Burstein, who criticized the federal government's "forked tongue approach to this issue." [ Post Comment ] Post Comment