cannabisnews.com: Judge Says Pot No Worse Than Alcohol





Judge Says Pot No Worse Than Alcohol
Posted by CN Staff on June 23, 2003 at 16:01:55 PT
By The Canadian Press
Source: Canadian Press 
Vancouver -- A Canadian Alliance MP had harsh words Monday for a B.C. Appeal Court judge who wrote in a recent ruling that she no longer thinks marijuana offences are serious crimes. In the ruling issued Friday, Justice Mary Southin wrote she has sat on "over 40 cases which had something to do with this substance, which appears to be of no greater danger to society than alcohol."
But Randy White, police issues critic for the Canadian Alliance, said that statement flies in the face of what he learned while serving as vice-chairman of a parliamentary committee on non-medical drug use. "I spent 18 months looking at this issue from parliament's point of view," said White. "The fact is medical associations will tell you marijuana has some serious consequences to its use. Also, marijuana has some medicinal use. "But far be it for a judge to make those decisions."Southin's comments were included in a B.C. Appeal Court ruling that found Vancouver police officers violated basic rights when they used a battering ram to break down the door of a suspected marijuana-grow operation without first knocking. A three-judge appeal panel, including Southin, unanimously found that the breach of a couple's rights was so serious that the evidence obtained during the 1999 raid should be excluded from the case against Bradley Cecil Schedel and his wife, Kuestan Hassen Schedel. Southin agreed with the judge writing the decision on the raid but decided to include her own thoughts on marijuana and its criminal consequences. That decision resulted in their being acquitted of operating a marijuana grow-op. In her reasons for judgment, Southin wrote that although she once accepted "the received wisdom that marijuana offences were serious crimes," she now has a different opinion. "I have not yet abandoned my conviction that Parliament has a constitutional right to be hoodwinked, as it was in the 1920s and 1930s by the propaganda against marijuana, and remain to be hoodwinked. "The growing, trafficking in, and possession of (marijuana) is the source of much work, not only for peace officers but also for lawyers and judges," she wrote. "Whether that work contributes to peace, order and good government is another matter." Alcohol does seem to pose a far greater health risk than marijuana, said Richard Garlick, a spokesman for the Canadian Centre on Substance Abuse, an Ottawa-based policy centre on drug-health issues. "Certainly statistics would back up what the judge is saying," said Garlick. "Alcohol kills thousands of people every year, directly or indirectly, (while with) cannabis there are really no known cases or recorded cases of people dying from cannabis overdose." But it's still not a benign substance and has harmful effects, he said. "Although I can see for the point of view of someone in the justice system in the courts, I suppose it must seem like a waste of time to be dealing with cannabis cases when there are so many worse problems related to alcohol," he said. But Garlick said he doubted statements by judges would have much of an impact on peoples' decision to smoke pot. "I don't think young people nowadays are responding to messages from judges, they are responding to messages from peers," he said. "In very large numbers they are using cannabis." Garlick said his organization supports decriminalization of marijuana along the lines of proposed legislation which would make possession of up to 15 grams of pot -- enough to roll about 15 to 20 joints -- a minor offence that carries no criminal record. "Anything that can help reduce the stigma and the criminal liability around cannabis possession does have the potential to lead to this issue being dealt with more as a health concern and that would certainly be something we would support," he said. Garlick said Southin's comments seemed to be keeping with recent rulings by other judges. Police organizations in Ontario have said they will not lay charges for possession of marijuana under 30 grams until the country's muddled pot laws are clarified. The Ontario Court of Appeal ruled June 10 that it would not overturn a precedent-setting Ontario Superior Court decision that cleared a teenager of marijuana possession charges. The Superior Court judge ruled there is no current ban on pot possession in Ontario since the federal government failed to comply with a July 2000 court order to create a new law dealing with the drug. The B.C. appeal court judgment issued Friday said the knock-notice rule has been part of the common law for centuries and is of fundamental importance in protecting residents from unreasonable search and seizure of their homes. Appeal Court Justice William Esson wrote the evidence of the grow operation in the Schedel case could have been obtained without violating rights protected by Canada's Charter of Rights and Freedoms. "The circumstance that the Vancouver police department deliberately adopted a policy of ignoring the most fundamental rule protecting citizens from an unreasonable invasion of their dwelling put this violation, in my view, at the most serious end of the spectrum," Esson said. Note: Canadian Alliance MP lashes out at judge's comments on pot in appeal ruling.Source: Canadian Press Published: Monday, June 23, 2003Copyright: 2003 The Canadian PressRelated Articles & Web Site:Cannabis News Canadian Linkshttp://freedomtoexhale.com/can.htmPot Growers No Worse Than Martini Drinkers http://cannabisnews.com/news/thread16670.shtmlJudge Allows Marijuana Ruling To Stand http://cannabisnews.com/news/thread16592.shtmlNo Laws Ban Possession of Marijuanahttp://cannabisnews.com/news/thread16321.shtml 
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Comment #7 posted by FoM on June 25, 2003 at 11:38:57 PT
Related News Article from Snipped Source
Bravo Justice Southin for Nailing the Folly of Pot Prohibition 
Jim McNulty, The Province Wednesday, June 25, 2003 
 
Madame Justice Mary Southin has set tongues a wagging with her splendid take on Canada's Dumb and Dumber prohibition on marijuana.In a devastating sidebar to the B.C. Court of Appeal's rapping of Vancouver police knuckles for a bungled grow-op raid, the 71-year-old Southin skewered the absurdity of government anti-pot paranoia.Naturally this raised the dander of Alliance MP Randy White and other anti-pot crusaders who fret about so-called "judicial activism" when they don't like a ruling.Snipped:Complete Article: http://www.canada.com/search/story.aspx?id=7d1be243-91a2-409c-99f4-952859198a3a
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Comment #6 posted by cloud7 on June 24, 2003 at 08:40:11 PT
just an update
They change the headlines and they just had this one up, which I think is "better" in a sense:
'Windshield' Driver Urged to Call 911
Friend says she refused; lawyers admit she was drunk, stoned, on Ecstasy 
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Comment #5 posted by cloud7 on June 24, 2003 at 05:44:46 PT
Posted at foxnews.com
They posted this terrible story about someone who was killed by a driver who had been drinking, taking ecstasy, and smoking "pot." But, these three intoxicants were listed in exactly the opposite order. Just a subtle way of reporting that implies cannabis was the demon drug behind the accident(at least the way I see it) since it is the first thing you read. Here is the exact headline and the link to the story is below:Jurors See 'Windshield Death' Photos
Lawyers: Driver smoked pot, took Ecstasy, drank before hitting man 
Driving Accident
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Comment #4 posted by kaptinemo on June 24, 2003 at 03:44:59 PT:
E_J, it's good to see you back!
I can definitely say I mised your erudite postings :)
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Comment #3 posted by afterburner on June 23, 2003 at 16:31:15 PT:
Who Could It Be? Who Could It Be?
Canadian Alliance MP lashes out at judge's comments on pot in appeal ruling.Surprise, surprise, it's arch-prohibitionist, Randy White. If he didn't react, we might think he was asleep.ego transcendence follows ego destruction, unless you want to turn back time to the Dark Ages.
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Comment #2 posted by JSM on June 23, 2003 at 16:28:01 PT
Who do you believe?
Who is telling the truth? Randy White or :1. The British Hemp Commission report, 2. The LaGaurdia report, 3. The Shaffer report, 4. The LeDain report,. 5. Or the Canadian Senate's report of last year.Take your time, weigh the facts, think long and hard, but (unlike the anti's) be sure to tell the truth.
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Comment #1 posted by E_Johnson on June 23, 2003 at 16:26:38 PT
Remember that guy who got busted in Russia?
"The police on Monday broke up a ring of senior law enforcement officials who planted drugs and guns on people in a blackmail scheme that generated millions of dollars, Interior Minister Boris Gryzlov said."http://www.moscowtimes.ru/stories/2003/06/24/001.htmlNow if they could just open their eyes a little wider to see the rest of the scam...
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