cannabisnews.com: Pot Access Up To Courts - Senator 





Pot Access Up To Courts - Senator 
Posted by CN Staff on February 22, 2003 at 08:23:56 PT
By Michael Lightstone, Staff Reporter
Source: Halifax Herald
If medicinal marijuana becomes easily accessible in Canada, it'll be because the court system filled a void left by legislators, a public forum in Halifax heard Friday. Senator Pierre Claude Nolin said there is little political will in Ottawa to help chronically sick people get the pot they say eases their suffering. He said it could take a landmark case to persuade Parliament to reform its medicinal marijuana rules. Cannabis is used by people with the virus linked to AIDS, multiple sclerosis and other conditions. 
Mr. Nolin, a Quebec lawyer, said denying Canadians "the autonomy" to decide how best to treat their illness contravenes the Charter of Rights and Freedoms. He said an Ontario court ruling has already criticized Ottawa on the pot-access issue, and a watershed judgment could be in the offing. "One day it may happen and that will rock the boat," said Mr. Nolin, who headed a Senate committee on illegal drugs that last fall recommended pot smoking for adults be legalized and regulated. "The courts will trigger the need for (political) leadership," the Conservative politician told a forum hosted by Maritimers Unite for Medical Marijuana. Mr. Nolin said the government has enough information from reliable research to act. "We have studied it enough," he said. Ottawa allows for medicinal pot use but speakers at Friday's event said legislative and bureaucratic measures make it difficult to obtain. Debbie Stultz-Giffin, chairwoman of the Maritime group, said the marijuana-acquisition program is not nearly compassionate enough. She said the rules place medicinal users in crisis situations and force them to use surreptitious means to buy pot. Ms. Stultz-Giffin said public opinion polls show 86 per cent of Canadians support the use of medicinal marijuana. In September, Mr. Nolin's committee recommended legalization over decriminalization because the latter would leave the production and sale of cannabis in the hands of organized crime. The committee's report was hailed by marijuana activists but condemned by the Canadian Police Association. Note: Canadians support use of medicinal grass, group says. Source: Halifax Herald (CN NS)Author: Michael Lightstone, Staff ReporterPublished: Saturday, February 22, 2003Copyright: 2003 The Halifax Herald LimitedContact: letters herald.ns.caWebsite: http://www.herald.ns.ca/Related Articles & Web Site:Cannabis News Canadian Linkshttp://freedomtoexhale.com/can.htmPot Support in Full Flower http://cannabisnews.com/news/thread15522.shtmlOttawa To Appeal Marijuana Rulinghttp://cannabisnews.com/news/thread15448.shtmlQuebec Judge Calls Halt To Medicinal Pot Trialhttp://cannabisnews.com/news/thread15018.shtml
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Comment #7 posted by Nuevo Mexican on February 22, 2003 at 21:55:50 PT
Here's a scoop, Chile/Allende, bush, 9-11, Powell!
Did you see this hidden away, pretty big story, not being reported on, as Powell, the U.S. Gov in general are headed to the scrapbooks of history. Cannabis prohibition is a result of the war mentality, to stop one is to stop the other, end war, end cannibis prohibition:
Reuters. 22 February 2003. Chile cheers Powell remarks on 1973 coup.
SANTIAGO -- The Chilean government applauded remarks by U.S. Secretary of State Colin Powell this week that the United States was "not proud" of its role in the 1973 coup that brought dictator Augusto Pinochet to power, Chilean newspapers reported on Saturday. Powell's comments on Thursday on the U.S. Black Entertainment Television network, were seen by Chileans as the first time Washington has acknowledged that it intervened in events related to the bloody putsch and death of socialist President Salvador Allende. "U.S. mea culpa for 1973 coup" blared the headline of the government-owned La Nacion daily above a full-page picture of the presidential palace in flames, taken on the day of the Sept. 11, 1973, coup. 
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Comment #6 posted by FoM on February 22, 2003 at 17:27:35 PT
BGreen and mayan
No I didn't see it. I will have to check it out when I have a little more time. I think Pot-TV is doing such a fine job. I really appreciate the quality they put into all they do. Thanks!mayan, she's in trouble again oh boy who woulda thought! LOL!
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Comment #5 posted by mayan on February 22, 2003 at 16:51:21 PT
Noelle...
It appears that Noelle Bush got her hands slapped again!Judge Gives Warning to Jeb Bush's Girl:
http://www.newsday.com/news/nationworld/nation/wire/sns-ap-brf-jeb-bushs-daughter0222feb21,0,1899277.story?coll=sns%2Dap%2Dnation%2DheadlinesNo Blood for oil!Feds Seeks to Dismiss Anti-War Lawsuit: http://www.guardian.co.uk/uslatest/story/0,1282,-2420889,00.html
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Comment #4 posted by BGreen on February 22, 2003 at 16:09:22 PT
Did You See This, FoM?
The Comedy Channel on Those Nauseating anti- Drug Adds The Comedy Channel's Adnauseam gives us a humorous and critical look at the Federal US Governments crop of latest anti-Drug Adds.It's hilarious. Why does the Comedy channel and Jon Stewarts' Daily Show get it when most of amerika seems oblivious?Bud Green
The Comedy Channel on Those Nauseating anti- Drug Adds 
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Comment #3 posted by FoM on February 22, 2003 at 12:16:21 PT
If I've Learned Anything
I just want to say that I never thought in my wildest imagination that Cannabis would still be against the law in the year 2003. I believed in the mid 70s that it was only a matter of time and now here we are all these years later. What bothers me is this is not logical at all. I wonder how much money over the years Cannabis prohibition has cost us and Canada and the rest of the world. War is coming. People will die. If our governmental system can be so hostile towards this medicinal plant then what else will they deny us? It boggles my mind and it makes me not believe what the government says and thats not a good way to make people feel.
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Comment #2 posted by afterburner on February 22, 2003 at 12:12:33 PT:
Virgil: I Second That Emotion.
The Right Honourable Jean Chrétien, Prime Minister of Canada:It's time to finish the job of providing access to medical cannabis. The courts have mandated it. The public supports it. You yourself have reminded us of your early support as Minister of Justice in 1981. It doesn't matter whether you have tried pot (cannabis). Now is the time for action: people are suffering, maybe dying, and relying on impure street sources. What are you waiting for? This is part of your legacy. Get on with it, and finish the job. The U.S. will survive: they cannot afford to delay and decimate trade with their largest trading partner. Canada will thank you and remember you. ego destruction or ego transcendence, that is the question.afterburner
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Comment #1 posted by Virgil on February 22, 2003 at 11:01:52 PT
At least Canada has health care for everyone
He said it could take a landmark case to persuade Parliament to reform its medicinal marijuana rules. Cannabis is used by people with the virus linked to AIDS, multiple sclerosis and other conditions. Canada spends about 6% of their GNP on health care while the US spends 14%. The health care industry dictates policy just like the media companies have dictated policy and the telecommunications giants do in their industries, except more so. They say look at how sad healthh care is in Canada and we have the best health care system in the world. Yea, about like we have the best legal system in the world. If Canada spent 14% of GDP they would make our health care system look like crap while insuring every man, woman, and child.The insurance companies game the system and create the system they can best game. It is time for national health care in this country. Who can help but get sick with the artificial growth hormones and pesticides and antibiotics in our food supply and having to work in offices that spread disease to hundreds of co-workers, while breathing polluted air and drinking contaminated water. Even the chlorine in drinking water is dangerous. 10% of all cancer comes from chlorine as if the media will investigate and report.Medical cannabis as law has been denied for 4 years in practice while people suffer and politicians LB&O. The fix is in but the jig is up. Politicians can no longer LB&O their corrupt ways and expect re-election no matter how much money their corporate sponsor put into their campaigns. Zero tolerance is required by all citizens and so is the corresponding voting pattern.There are systemic problems that are going to be hard to address, but we can now be sure that any politicians says that cannabis is no medicine is a soldier on the stonewall that needs dealing with. It is absolutely clear. It is absolutely telling. It is absolutely a litmus test of integrity and honesty and ignorance worthy of distain in any political office including dog catcher.My twin sister was diagnosed with MS last year. Her medicine cost about $90 a day. The insurance company capped her medicine expenses in gaming things to their favor and she could not get insurance with another company because insurance is about collecting money and not paying money out. Luckily she got a state job as a pharmacist and if she can work five more years she will be taken care of. It is past time for Canada and the US to have research the miracles that will come for cannabis. It is now time to adopt a zero tolerance to the present nonsense.Choir, the song for today is "We had too much crap a long time ago."
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