cannabisnews.com: You Can Smoke a Shirt, Court Told You Can Smoke a Shirt, Court Told Posted by FoM on October 08, 1999 at 08:29:28 PT Makes sense to treat hemp like marijuana! Source: Toronto Star It's only right that Canada's drug possession laws make no distinction between a marijuana joint and hemp clothing because both could theoretically be smoked, a federal lawyer suggests. ``What if you decide to tear up the hemp shirt and put it in little portions that could be consumed?'' justice department lawyer Morris Pistyner said yesterday. Pistyner was responding to a question from Ontario Court of Appeal Justice Louise Charron about whether criminal prohibitions on cannabis are too broad. The court is the highest in Canada to consider whether the drug should be decriminalized for medical and recreational use. A three-judge panel was told on Wednesday that drug laws don't distinguish between the intoxicating and non-intoxicating forms of cannabis. Some experts put the dividing line at 0.3 per cent of the active ingredient THC. Christopher Clay, 28, who is appealing 1997 convictions for drug possession and drug trafficking, contends the federal government never proved plant seedlings confiscated from his London, Ont., hemp store were the intoxicating kind. Clay and Torontonian Terry Parker, 44, an epileptic who says smoking the drug helps control seizures, are at the centre of two appeals looking at whether marijuana laws should be reformed. The federal government is appealing a Scarborough judge's 1997 decision to stay marijuana possession and cultivation charges against Parker. The Epilepsy Association of Toronto is intervening on Parker's behalf. Justice department lawyer Kevin Wilson argued yesterday that Parker's constitutional rights aren't infringed by the ban because he can receive the same benefits by taking a pill containing synthetic THC. In fact, Wilson said, Parker suffered only one seizure when he was given synthetic THC as part of a nine-week study in 1979. But Alan Young, Clay's lawyer, said yesterday the blanket ban on marijuana is unconstitutional because it has no rationale and it is arbitrary, since there is no real proof the substance causes widespread harm. `What's wrong with jail' for repeat drug sellers? Pistyner said while it would be wrong to send a young, first-time offender to jail for having an ounce of marijuana, it might be necessary to lock up a repeat offender who deals pounds of the drug in a playground. ``What's wrong with a jail sentence for someone like that?'' he asked. Pistyner also said that while attitudes toward marijuana might have been ``extreme'' around the time the ban was invoked in 1923, it can be justified because of the drug's potential to cause harm such as lung damage. Health Minister Allan Rock announced this week that 14 exemptions from prosecution for marijuana use would be granted to seriously ill people, which generated newspaper stories, but no further information in the government's court brief, prompting the judges to press for details. ``Let's assume, for the sake of discussion, 14 were granted yesterday,'' asked Justice Marvin Catzman. ``Are we not to know that?'' The hearing continues at Osgoode Hall.October 8, 1999 Contents copyright © 1996-1999, The Toronto Star.The Compassion Clubhttp://www.thecompassionclub.org/ Pot Harmful, Crown Argues - 10/07/99http://www.cannabisnews.com/news/thread3186.shtmlLawyers Argue To Legalize Marijuana - 10/07/99http://www.cannabisnews.com/news/thread3182.shtml Home Comment Email Register Recent Comments Help Comment #6 posted by Santor on October 08, 1999 at 15:25:47 PT THC isn't what does it... It's interesting to note that the main anti-seizure/anti-spasmodic effect of marijuana comes from CBD abd CBN, not from THC. This is easily verified by checking the studies on Medline. If someone can get this info to them, it might help their cases. [ Post Comment ] Comment #5 posted by Alexandre Oeming on October 08, 1999 at 09:33:16 PT: Whatever If these guys buy this, there is no hope for this planet anymore. At least, not for the humans inhabiting it. The fact is that you CANNOT smoke hemp products and get the *slightest* buzz! Ok, wait ... check that. I believe i read somewhere that you could smoke a "joint" of hemp cloth (for example) about the size of a telephone pole and you might get a slight high. Now. Who is gonna go out and try it? Maybe these bright lawyers should! :) [ Post Comment ] Comment #4 posted by Doctor Dave on October 08, 1999 at 09:25:44 PT Lung Damage I don't understand why this argument about lung damage isn't refuted. It alone cannot justify the continued prohibition (esp against medical MJ) because many people eat the plant instead of smoking it. Granted, the rapid-onset of relief brought on by smoking is preferable for a vast majority, but how some people choose to ingest should not make the lung damage from smoking the sole determinent of MJ's legality.Doctor Dave"A nation that makes war on huge numbers of its own people can never truly be free." [ Post Comment ] Comment #3 posted by FoM on October 08, 1999 at 09:24:47 PT Don't Apologize Never apologize for comments! I really appreciate reading them and I know others do too. That's why a comment section is on this web site! We can win this war against our personal moral freedom if we keep at it and keep learning at the same time! [ Post Comment ] Comment #2 posted by Thomas on October 08, 1999 at 09:10:20 PT Another Comment Sorry for all the comments, but the things people say just rub me the wrong way and I have to voice my opinion. For instance, the presumption that a hemp fiber shirt could some how be cut into doses and sold. What a preposterous, rediculous, idiotic, uninformed, propagandic, misleading assertion. To smoke a fiber that has almost no trace of THC and which has been processed and dyed would get someone as high as if they had smoked cow dung (not to mention the headache and possible toxicity from the dyes). This federal prosecutor is playing on the naive/uninformed people who are in the position to make the decisions. [ Post Comment ] Comment #1 posted by Thomas on October 08, 1999 at 09:01:21 PT More Comments "What about the lung damage." - then why are cigarettes legal?"What about the guy dealing pounds of cannabis in a playground." - Talk about hysteria. Can you even picture it? Some person trying to unload pounds to pre-teen children is a public space? If someone can believe this is a common occurance, then they also may believe the moon is made of green cheese. 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