cannabisnews.com: Canada Eases Rules on Growing Medical Marijuana





Canada Eases Rules on Growing Medical Marijuana
Posted by CN Staff on October 07, 2003 at 13:22:40 PT
By Luke McCann 
Source: Reuters 
Toronto -- Canadian courts ruled on Tuesday that businesses and individuals be allowed to grow and supply large amounts of medical marijuana, effectively relieving the Canadian government of its often criticized and fairly unsuccessful attempts to do so itself. "What is going to change in Canada is that one person or one company can grow for an unlimited number of people ... and in terms of supply and cultivation, you can now pay people to grow for you," said York University Law Professor Alan Young, a legal counsel to the people seeking laxer growing rules.
He said the ruling will make it easier for sick people to get marijuana by allowing them better access and more choice. The ruling stems from an Ontario Court of Appeal decision in January that called on the Canadian government to provide a licit source of marijuana to people suffering from illnesses like AIDS and multiple sclerosis, so they would not have to buy it off the street. In July, Canada became the first country in the world to start selling government-grown marijuana to seriously ill people, an approach markedly different to that of the United States, where the Supreme Court in 2001 upheld a federal ban on medical marijuana. The new Canadian regulations meant that some 650 sufferers granted dispensation from criminal laws to use the drug were allowed to buy marijuana grown in a government facility in Flin Flon, Manitoba, or buy a pack of 30 seeds to grow their own. But the sufferers were soon unhappy with the quality of the government-grown marijuana, and the lawsuit attacked the ban on the basis that the federal government had not adequately attended to the needs of sick people. CANADIAN GOVERNMENT OFF THE HOOK Tuesday's ruling, as well as allowing sick people easier access to the marijuana that they use to ease pain, or boost the appetite, also lets the Canadian government wash its hands of the business of selling the drug. The government, which officially recommended that patients put its marijuana in food or drinks rather than smoking it, had been growing the drug in a converted mine shaft. "When we finish this interview the (government) distribution program will be over," said Young. "They've been waiting to be relieved of this obligation. They cannot remove their obligation to supply seeds, because that's the necessary first step for someone to grow legally for themselves, but there is nothing in the judgment that suggests the government has an obligation to supply ... and (the government) has always called this policy interim." While the ruling states that the drug can now be grown privately for more than one person, it also says that anyone wishing to do so needs a license. Canada's Heath Minister Anne McLellan said she was "heartened" by the court's decision to uphold access regulations for medical marijuana. It was not clear what would happen to the Flin Flon plant. Additional reporting by Randall Palmer in OttawaSource: ReutersAuthor: Luke McCann Published: October 7, 2003Copyright: 2003 Reuters Related Articles & Web Site:Cannabis News Canadian Linkshttp://freedomtoexhale.com/can.htmOntario Court Reinstates Pot Law http://cannabisnews.com/news/thread17491.shtmlOnt. Court Fixes Ottawa's Medicinal Pot Programhttp://cannabisnews.com/news/thread17488.shtmlOnt. Appeals Court Rejects Federal Pot Ruleshttp://cannabisnews.com/news/thread17487.shtml
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Comment #2 posted by Virgil on October 08, 2003 at 03:38:45 PT
WP article in comment1
The strong, silent type of newspaper printed 120 reluctant words on todays rulings. If they do not address the destruction of the environment, the criminal cabal ruining/running the country, the huge deficit with no improvement to a decaying infrastructure, the corporate takeover of America, the War of Insanity, the rampant corruption of public office, the ill-will the rest of the war holds for us and why, just what do they print in their paper? If they avoid real life they must resort to fiction is all I can figure out.
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Comment #1 posted by FoM on October 07, 2003 at 22:04:05 PT
World in Brief: The Washington Post
TORONTO -- An appeals court expanded the ability of patients to obtain medical marijuana Tuesday but affirmed that possession by non-patients remains a crime. The decision resolved a dilemma faced by the Canadian government: how to follow a court order to enable patients to get marijuana for treatment while also keeping its possession by others illegal. With a looming court-imposed deadline to create a supply system for patients, the government in 2001 started registering qualified patients and authorizing them or other designated people to grow marijuana for medicinal use. Several hundred people have registered with the federal government to use marijuana for medical purposes. Subsequent court challenges invalidated marijuana possession laws so that patients could not be prosecuted for obtaining medicinal marijuana. Wednesday, October 8, 2003; Page A24 http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A59252-2003Oct7.html
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