cannabisnews.com: Ont. Appeals Court Rejects Federal Pot Rules





Ont. Appeals Court Rejects Federal Pot Rules
Posted by CN Staff on October 07, 2003 at 09:04:53 PT
By CTV.ca News Staff
Source: CTV
The federal government's latest attempt to patch the constitutional holes burning through its medical marijuana program has been rejected. And in the process, the Ontario Appeals Court has again made the possession of small amounts of pot illegal.In its decision, the Ontario Court of Appeal struck down unconstitutional aspects of Ottawa's Marijuana Medical Access Regulations (MMAR) because they impair patients' access to a safe and legal supply of the drug.
Those provisions include restricting licensed growers of medical marijuana from being paid for their product, from growing the drug for more than one qualified patient and from pooling resources with other licensed producers.But while those who are government-approved will be able to grow marijuana, Ontario's possession laws which were effectively suspended last year will come back into effect."This narrow remedy would create a constitutionally valid medical exemption, making marijuana prohibition... immediately constitutionally valid and of full force and effect and removing any uncertainty concerning the validity of the prohibition," said a synopsis of the ruling issued by the court.The MMAR, established in July 2001, recognized that marijuana was suitable for some medical uses, and set out rules for granting pot possession permits to approved patients.But the scheme stopped short of establishing a legal source for the drug, a fact that caused Ontario Superior Court Justice Sidney Lederman to rule the scheme unconstitutional last January.Lederman gave the government a July 9 deadline to either fix the regulations or supply the pot itself. As a result, Health Canada was compelled to distribute the pot it had been growing for research purposes.The federal government appealed the ruling, saying it shouldn't be forced to provide a legal source of cannabis.In its response Tuesday, Ontario's highest court of appeal upheld Lederman's earlier decision."Many of these individuals are not only seriously ill, they are also significantly physically handicapped and therefore cannot possibly grow their own marijuana," a synopsis of the judgment said."A scheme that authorizes possession of marijuana by seriously ill individuals but which drives some of them to the black market ... undermines the rule of law and fails to create a constitutionally valid medical exemption to the criminal prohibition against marijuana."An Ottawa-approved marijuana grow operation now supplying a handful of medical marijuana users is not good enough, the court ruled. Due to the fact the scheme was reluctantly kick-started as an interim policy.Prairie Plant Systems, having won a $5.75-million contract to grow the marijuana for Health Canada, has been growing the drug on Ottawa's behalf, in a vacant mine buried deep under Flin Flon, Manitoba.It began delivering pot to approved users after Health Canada was compelled by Lederman's decision.Last month, some of the first patients to smoke Health Canada's government-approved pot accused Ottawa of growing a sub-standard product.Three of the 10 people approved to use the government marijuana said the Prairie Plant Systems' pot they were sold was so bad they want their money back.Ontario's marijuana laws have been in question since a judge ruled that possessing less than 30 grams of pot is no longer illegal in the province.Last week, Prime Minister Jean Chretien said replacing criminal sentences with simple fines would better reflect society's attitudes about the punishment of marijuana users."The decriminalization of marijuana is making normal what is the practice," Chretien said."It is still illegal, but do you think Canadians want their kids, 18 years old or 17, who smoke marijuana once and get caught by the police, to have a criminal record for the rest of their life?"Adjust the law to reflect reality, Chretien said and using pot will remain illegal, but in a manner more "in synch" with the times.With reports from The Canadian PressSource: CTV (Canada)Published: October 7, 2003Copyright: 2003 Bell Globemedia Interactive Inc. Website: http://www.ctv.ca/Contact: newsonline ctv.ca Related Articles & Web Site:Cannabis News Canadian Linkshttp://freedomtoexhale.com/can.htmOttawa Must Make Access To Pot Easierhttp://cannabisnews.com/news/thread17486.shtmlOnt. Appeals Court Rejects Federal Pot Programhttp://cannabisnews.com/news/thread17485.shtml
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Comment #14 posted by Virgil on October 07, 2003 at 17:53:22 PT
Comment10
British Columbia threw out its possession laws and with attitude. The Ontario Supreme Court rulings reversing the death of the possession laws only creates conflict with British Columbia. A story has to have conflict and now the cannabis story will illuminate the corruption and failure of the system for a new audience as the plot thickens.It is not over until the Logical Conclusion no matter what the courts or the parliament do in the short run. I would ask who is pushing for 14 years penalty for cultivation when half of the Canadians are for no penalty. It has to be the Retarded Protestant Association acting as a front for the DEA and the US. I often think of the light that the police use to show body fluids and how vividly they stand out once the light pierces the darkness. The cannabis light detects corruption and in Canada the Cannabis light on the new call for 14 years imprisonment shows corruption emitting from the US.Their Liberal Party may rule in spite of well-recognized corruption, but that can change. It is classic good v evil, and the plot thickens. I am sure it will be a good story, but unfortunately I know how it all will end. It will end with the LC.
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Comment #13 posted by firedog on October 07, 2003 at 14:21:07 PT
Silver lining....
The ruling does make medical access a lot easier. And it looks like it opens the door for private companies to get involved in the production and distribution end of things, which is pretty significant.Once those channels are in place, all it takes is another court ruling to legalize recreational use (or a province like B.C. doing it on its own) and the whole infrastructure will be ready to handle it.
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Comment #12 posted by FoM on October 07, 2003 at 13:11:22 PT
I Wish
I wish I knew how much this war on Cannabis has cost in money and lives and everything in between over all these years. It is crazy.
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Comment #11 posted by goneposthole on October 07, 2003 at 12:53:42 PT
One more time
"Appeals Court has again made the possession of small amounts of pot illegal."Inuit teenagers will be mixing gasoline with milk once again because the supply of cannabis is low to nil...Once again, the DEA is sticking its nose into Canada's cannabis policies because they haven't anything better to do...One more time, legalize cannabis. There is nothing else that will work. Prohibition just doesn't work. Same old song and dance. 
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Comment #10 posted by VitaminT on October 07, 2003 at 11:22:34 PT
Judge Chen v. Judge Lederman
The two paragraphs below, along with the ruling announced today seem to reveal an argument ongoing among Canadian judges. 
B.C. Judge Chen said that Cannabis prohibition is kaput as of the one year deadline. 
Judge Lederman of Ontario thinks the prohibition can be "fixed."When does the Canadian Supreme Court chime in to settle all scores?From: "Marijuana Laws Struck Down in British Columbia"Then Judge Chen made new rulings sure to shake prohibition to it's core. First he addressed the Parker case, in which judge Rosenberg ruled section 4 of the CDSA unconstitutional and gave the government a year to change the law. Previous judges have interpreted this to mean that the law could be "fixed" by giving medpot patients legal use of cannabis. However, Judge Chen showed that the law was actually struck down as unconstitutional after one year and needed to be replaced by new a law. The idea was that this new law should include access to medpot. Instead, the government wrote medpot regulations that didn't address pot-possession. So the government totally missed the mark. If he "was wrong on this", Judge Chen was prepared to defend his ruling on other grounds. He quoted from the January 9,2003 Hitzig decision, in which judge Lederman found medpot regulations unconstitutional since they did not provide a legal supply of pot to patients who couldn't grow their own. Judge Lederman gave the government 6 months to fix the medpot regulations, by providing a legal supply, which the government did on July 8, 2003, one day before the deadline.
Marijuana Laws Struck Down in British Columbia
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Comment #9 posted by Sam Adams on October 07, 2003 at 11:22:32 PT
Marc Emery
I think Emery will be in court in Regina in the next couple weeks, that should provide a good indication of whether this ruling affects current possession law
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Comment #8 posted by TroutMask on October 07, 2003 at 11:04:32 PT
Far from over
This was only one case of many to come. Don't sweat it.-TM
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Comment #7 posted by kaptinemo on October 07, 2003 at 10:27:45 PT:
To use a once popular term
"Its not over 'til the Fat Lady sings." I think she is far from filling her lungs, just yet. This isn't over. Not at all. And if the courts try to retroactively pursue all those who had their cannabis taken from them and threatened with arrest by ordering them to be picked up and arraigned...The Canadian public has seen that nothing bad happened during the whole time it was technically legal. How well do you think a Canadian parent will take the local gendarmerie showing up on their front doorstep to haul their kids into custody? Not very well, I'd think. I believe that Canadian electorate, having heard M. Chretien joke about it how silly it all is, are less inclined to be so jovial when Officer Boot's counterpart up there, Constable Jacques Botte, tries to roust those kids into the paddy wagon. It ain't over, me hearties, not by a long shot.
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Comment #6 posted by FoM on October 07, 2003 at 10:23:36 PT
Arthropod 
What you said seems right to me. That's why I believe this is far from over. It's just another bump in the road.
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Comment #5 posted by Arthropod on October 07, 2003 at 10:20:21 PT:
Just a thought
How would the cannabis laws come back into full effect? I thought the provision was that if the Canadian government hadn't instituted a set of laws protecting medical users and giving them a safe and legal supply by a certain deadline, then cannabis laws were no more. I don't remember seeing a clause in there that stated the cannabis prohibition laws would come back into effect if the government instituted the protection and supply laws after the deadline was up. And in this case, even that has not happened, as the govt. has simply revised the regulations, which can be repealed at a moments notice.
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Comment #4 posted by FoM on October 07, 2003 at 10:14:35 PT
Sam
My feeling is this is far from over. It's another BuMp in the road. We all have BBA though! 
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Comment #3 posted by Sam Adams on October 07, 2003 at 10:08:20 PT
So that's it?
So now police will go back to arresting & charging people for possession? Or no?I assume that either way, there are still several other MJ cases in the courts that will be heard this fall that could force legalization, right?And it looks to me like this ruling enacts 100% protection for buyer's club, if they go by the book. That would be a good thing.
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Comment #2 posted by FoM on October 07, 2003 at 09:33:23 PT
Related Article
I archived this article because it doesn't say much more then is already posted on the front page but here it is!Ont. Court Fixes Ottawa's Medicinal Pot Program: http://www.cannabisnews.com/news/thread17488.shtml
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Comment #1 posted by kaptinemo on October 07, 2003 at 09:15:44 PT:
Can the offensive portions be...appealled?
This ignorant Amie is asking Canux in the know...
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