cannabisnews.com: Decriminalizing Marijuana A No-Brainer Decriminalizing Marijuana A No-Brainer Posted by FoM on August 05, 2000 at 14:08:17 PT By David Dauphinee Source: London Free Press Ten-month-old Dylan Clay is making happy little baby noises while his dad Chris talks expectantly of a day when the family can visit Disneyland. Realistically, any travel by Clay outside Canada will be a long way off. Like 600,000 other Canadians who have fallen victim to Canada's senseless and futile efforts to prohibit marijuana use, the 29-year-old former Londoner has a criminal record that severely restricts travel. The United States, with its war on drugs so conveniently papering over a host of social ills from decaying cities to lousy test scores for students, will be off-limits for some time. But, unlike the Canadians who chalk up a pot bust to a youthful indiscretion or hide it from friends and bosses, Clay doesn't care who knows. The law is wrong and he's out to change it. The Ontario Court of Appeal knocked the socks off the federal government this week when it ordered the law changed to permit medical use of marijuana - -- or face court-imposed cancellation of all prohibitions. Of course marijuana should be available to treat the symptoms of illnesses such as AIDS or epilepsy. The fact Ottawa challenged this issue defies comprehension. If marijuana makes patients feel better, and it does, government should merely figure out how to make it available. Canadians should have access to their choice of medicine. In the words of Osgoode Hall professor and lawyer Alan Young, who argued the case, the medical use issue is a "no-brainer." At the same time, the court passed judgment on an even more important case that was all but overlooked in the media scramble to manufacture what-if scenarios from the medical marijuana decision. The appeal court's stockpile of bravery exhausted on medical marijuana, it upheld a decision prohibiting Clay from possessing pot for recreational purposes. Clay's argument there are no harmful effects and that criminalization poses a greater threat was received sympathetically, but to no avail. No one really expected the decision to be the end in either case. Clay's is one of three marijuana cases moving slowly to the Supreme Court of Canada. Another, the medical marijuana case, will no doubt be appealed by the feds if only to buy more time than the one-year deadline. The other is in British Columbia. Steadily, persistently, almost from the day London cops swooped down May 17, 1995, on his King Street shop -- the Great Canadian Hemp Emporium -- Clay has fought to end the criminalization of marijuana users. "They came at the end of the day, about 20 police officers, and they took me straight to jail and held me for the night," he recalls. "They went through my home the next morning and really trashed it -- it looked like somebody had broken in. All the drawers were emptied out, all the closets, it was a disaster. "They also charged friends of mine who were staying at the house and employees who were at the store." Five years and $40,000 later -- lawyers, including Young, are working for free -- he predicts his case will be at the Supreme Court about this time next year. Along the way, he has been helped by many contributors, including another ex-Londoner. Former City Lights book store owner Marc Emery, who has carved out a niche selling pot seeds, has promised to contribute $5,000 to the upcoming fight -- on top of thousands he has already contributed, says Clay. There's a high cost to acting on principle. Photocopying alone has cost more than $10,000. Another $30,000 went to things like expert witnesses, flying them in, putting them up in hotels, and occasional honoraria. Over those five years under a microscope, Clay has sensed a shift in public opinion. "Prohibition has done nothing to stem the marijuana trade, it is everywhere and people can easily find it." More than one-quarter of Canadians admit to having smoked grass at some point. When that many Canadians say the law is an ass and disobey it, when a majority support decriminalizing it, when the courts downgrade sentences to a fine or suspended sentence, the need for a change should be apparent to even the most skittish Ottawa politician. As it stands, Young argues the law has only a political purpose -- it protects Ottawa from retaliation by our southern neighbour for whom drugs are a bogeyman. And a drug that's so ubiquitous is a perfect foil for police in chasing other concerns. The worst part is that prohibition brings so many Canadians in contact with organized crime. Pot costs about the same to grow as tomatoes, says Clay. But a pound of tomatoes sells for $2 to $3, while marijuana costs $3,000. The untaxed difference goes to a black market and organized crime. And in the hands of crooks, there's no such thing as quality control, so potency has ratcheted up. Age limits? Sure -- how about the same as for booze. And hit drivers impaired by pot as hard as you would those wrenched from reality by Pernod or Percodan. But there's no longer any policy or scientific justification for arguing booze and smokes are OK but users of a less harmful substance should get slapped with a criminal record. Contact: letters lfpress.com Published: August 4, 2000Copyright: 2000 The London Free Press a division of Sun Media Corporation. Cited: Chris Clay: http://www.thecompassionclub.org/club/chris.html See: http://www.ontariocourts.on.ca/decisions/2000/july/clay.htm News Article Courtesy Of MapInc.http://mapinc.org/drugnews/v00/n1109/a06.htmlNewsHawk: Chris CampbellRelated Articles:Reefer Madness Reduxhttp://cannabisnews.com/news/thread6594.shtmlMarijuana as Medicinehttp://cannabisnews.com/news/thread6593.shtmlRewrite Law on Marijuana http://cannabisnews.com/news/thread6589.shtmlCourt Strikes Down Marijuana Possession Law http://cannabisnews.com/news/thread6577.shtml Home Comment Email Register Recent Comments Help Comment #4 posted by David L on August 20, 2000 at 22:39:11 PT: I'm not only a member I'm the President!!!!!! Ok,Ok, Yankees, you dont worry about us "Canucks" I happen to be envolved in quite a large organization to help legalize herb, one of which even most of my very closet friends don't even know I'm envolved. We do have plans and we do plan to get what we want so don't worry your dependent little selves cause you will still get your "B.C. Herb" and "Quebec Gold". You soon will see how the story ends so just sit back, smoke a reefer, and enjoy the show!!!! Later eh David L [ Post Comment ] Comment #3 posted by kaptinemo on August 06, 2000 at 08:34:00 PT: I sincerely hope you Canucks can pull it off Because if you do, the DrugWar is sunk. Period.What could America do? Trade embargo a la Cuba? Patently absurd. Laughable. Economic sanctions? The laughter gets louder. Close the border? Laughter plus snickers. Demand Canada accept and spray the same fungus that Colombia has denied entry to? Yeah, right.The DrugWarriors have been able to bull and bluff to get their own way on all kinds of harebrained schemes for years and never have had any opposition. Until now. The Emperor has been running around the planet, demanding that everyone see his brand new clothes, and that they buy a suit from the same tailors, and most people have been too bullied to stand up and speak the painfully obvious truth. But the guy's neighbor just north of him has casually leaned over his windowsill and matter-of-factly said, with no drama at all, that the Emperor is indeed bare-ass naked. And with a simple factual statement, the whole thing is beginning to unravel. And what helps most of all was the 'revelations' (to most people, but hardly one to us) about the 'Janie Canuck' connection. Once the US reaches that point where a judge does the same thing here with Anslinger's vicious hatred of Blacks the game is finished. One leg of the 3 legged stool the antis depend upon for rationalizing their policy - 'toxicity' - has been seriously weakened by the Abrams Report. One good kick and it cracks into splinters. The second leg? Their legal standing... which is actually based upon the first leg, since they don't dare bring up the Anslingerian bigotry behind crafting the laws. And that is already jeopardized courtesy of the Breyer decision. Which could force the antis into the open and have to legitimize continued prohibition in the face of no medical reason for it. They can't afford to have the cultural biases brought up without risking an even greater conflagration than the LA Riots were. The only leg left... is cultural. Customary. Doing things out of habit. Inertia. 'We bust potheads!" "Why?" "Because what they're doing is against the laws, and I have to enforce the laws!" But now there's a mental logjam; pot is supposed to be legal for medicinal use in 7 States. You can just hear the mental gears stripping themselves of their cogs. So some police departments do a hands off, and others just barge right in and keep doing what they're doing. And it will be the latter who realize too late how expensive that course of action will become. This has been a very interesting summer indeed, and it's still not over yet. I wonder what's next? [ Post Comment ] Comment #2 posted by Symmetric on August 05, 2000 at 16:25:50 PT T-360 days It's amazing how supportive the media here in canada have been. Every newspaper so far has come out in favor of changing the law or getting rid of it entirely. Right now I'm being optimistic and counting down the days until the court decision tosses out the law. Although I will remind everyone that we have a federal election coming up in the next year as well so really anything can happen.Cheers,Chris. [ Post Comment ] Comment #1 posted by R.earing on August 05, 2000 at 14:47:20 PT: Tide's turning Uncle Sam! As one of the many Canucks solidly in the grey area between med use and rec use I wholeheartedly hope that the feds let the law lapse.It's the best posible situation.If the ruling Liberal party re-writes the law ,no-one on either side of the debate will be happy with it and the courts will have to rule on a case by case basis.(fairness in the "law of one " situation?) If they let it simply lapse,the Liberals can claim, rightly, that the "courts" did it,not them.They can deflect the pressure sure to come from McCaffery and his sucessors.Isn't it strange to want the Gov't to do absolutely nothing for a change? Anyhoo, watch the news for angry ,irrational threats from the US gov't in the year to come.Ya'll wouldn't bomb us,would ya? Where would you get hockey players,toques and moosemeat from? [ Post Comment ] Post Comment Name: Optional Password: E-Mail: Subject: Comment: [Please refrain from using profanity in your message] Link URL: Link Title: