cannabisnews.com: Ottawa Won't Appeal Marijuana Ruling Ottawa Won't Appeal Marijuana Ruling Posted by FoM on September 30, 2000 at 08:34:27 PT Canadian Press Source: Toronto Star The federal government will not appeal an Ontario court ruling that struck down marijuana laws because they don't allow for medicinal use, a Justice spokeswoman said Friday. The government made the decision Thursday, a week after Health Minister Allan Rock announced he would make changes to regulations that would allow Canadians access to marijuana for medical purposes. The Ontario Court of Appeal ruled in July that Canadian laws prohibiting possession of marijuana failed to recognize that pot can be used for medical purposes. It gave Ottawa a year to change the law, after which there would be no law prohibiting possession in Ontario. Rock said last week the new approach, once in place, would define the circumstances and the manner in which use of marijuana will be allowed for medical purposes. Currently, Canadians can apply to the government for exemption from the law for medical purposes with the supervision of a doctor. Source: Toronto Star (CN ON)Published: September 29, 2000 Copyright: 2000 The Toronto Star Contact: lettertoed thestar.com Address: One Yonge St., Toronto ON, M5E 1E6 Fax: (416) 869-4322 Website: http://www.thestar.com/ Forum: http://www.thestar.com/editorial/disc_board/ Related Articles:Canada a Leaky Sieve in Drug Warhttp://cannabisnews.com/news/thread6929.shtmlOntario Court Says Law Against MJ Unconstitutionalhttp://cannabisnews.com/news/thread6576.shtmlOntario Court of Appeal Upholds Decision http://cannabisnews.com/news/thread6571.shtmlCannabisNews Search - Canadahttp://cannabisnews.com/thcgi/search.pl?K=Canada Home Comment Email Register Recent Comments Help Comment #8 posted by FoM on October 01, 2000 at 11:42:05 PT My 2 cents Hi kaptinemo,I've watched women change laws and many have been bad laws but many are good ones too. I think that women in general have a different reason and drive then men and that's why we compliment each other. I could be wrong but I think I'm right. I've known Hempity from the political board for about 3 years and we've had some great talks. We've also had many great laughs!Peace, FoM! [ Post Comment ] Comment #7 posted by kaptinemo on October 01, 2000 at 05:05:30 PT: A painful truth Sadly, there's a lot of truth concerning FoM's remarks about the gender aspect of the WoSD. For example: did you know the head of the Dutch Ministry of Health, the rough equivalent of the US Surgeon General... is a woman? She's held the position for a number of years, is highly respected in Europe for her candor and her compassion, as well as her open-mindedness on the matter of illicit drugs and health matters. Yet when the (sadly, former) Surgeon General of the US, Dr. Jocelyn Elders, suggested a course of action similar to Madame Borst, she gets villified and is pressured to stand down. Why? Because she was portrayed as being 'soft on drugs'.There are lots of words the antis use that press all sorts of emotional buttons in Americans, buttons that most people here simply are not aware of having, but exist nontheless. To be 'soft' on anything connotes weakness. To be'compassionate' is to invite charges of having ulterior motives. To be 'permissive' is to have it insinuated that you are somehow a moral reprobate who would condone the worst aspects of human behavior, like pedophilia. To be 'radical' is just too...radical. I could go on, but you get my drift.But why do we have that happening? Because of de facto patriarchy. The words that I used to illustrate this matter have taken on the connotations that they have because the people who make decisions have given them that meaning. I mean, take a look at what's running things: we have effin *generals* deciding health matters! We have stodgy old frellers deciding women's reproductive rights. War on Drugs, as if the things were standing up on battlefields, wearing uniforms and threatening to invade your country and rape and pillage.With that kind of mindset running things, is it any wonder we're in the drenn-bucket we are in? [ Post Comment ] Comment #6 posted by FoM on September 30, 2000 at 20:03:55 PT Hiya Hempity! Hiya Hempity! That was sweet! I'm a cannabanerd though! Remember? LOL!Seriously I asked a person who was my mentor about a woman's place in a man's world. This is most definitely a man's world and he said to me this which I never forgot. He said yes it is a man's world in drug policy reform but when a woman get's fired up about something change happens. It's because woman have a passion for children and when we see how devastating this war is on the younger people we get pretty outspoken. If things don't change here in the states many people will want to leave so that they will be able to live out the rest of their lives in peace and with a peace pipe too!Love Ya ! FoM! [ Post Comment ] Comment #5 posted by hempity on September 30, 2000 at 19:30:46 PT cannabinauts I think you mean cannabinauts are here forever, Freedom Fighter.What would any of you do as a Canadian in the war? How would you help to legalize herbs?I think that if you send us a hundred more Renee Boje's, we would have the upper hand.http://www.reneeboje.comThrow in a couple of FoM's, and we would wipe 'em out entirely.I want to believe it is the compassion that is winning, finally we have found it, maybe we started to listen to the women speaking, or at least gave them the chance to.Canada will follow her heart on this one, I feel it in very old bones, we who have faught a lifetime, think the fighting almost over. Time for peace and rejoycing, I know the fat lady ain't sung, however, we might as well just get in some practice. [ Post Comment ] Comment #4 posted by freedom fighter on September 30, 2000 at 16:53:28 PT What else can the US do now? They can yellThey can threatenAll Canada have to do is point out these few facts that the US knows all along.US may try to invade Canada and I will be the first to defend the Canada.It is time for the world governments to understand something cannabis are here to stay forever! [ Post Comment ] Comment #3 posted by observer on September 30, 2000 at 14:58:43 PT Time To Turn Up Heat on Canadian Politicians This is encouraging news. But I think Kaptin's caution is more than justified. All sorts of insidious pressure is being and will be applied from Washington D.C. to whip Canada back into the prohibitionists' fold. Our sisters and brothers in Canada need to apply extra pressure now to their easily-swayed politicos. Politicians who will be feeling increasing heat from D.C. If Canada isn't politically independent of the U.S. enough to chart her own course on this matter, then in what manner can Canada be called independent of the U.S. at all? If Canada can't make here own laws vis a vis cannabis, then she might as well apply for the status of a U.S. Territory or Possesion. decided to pull up stakes and try a diet of Canadian bacon? Ontario would become the Silicon Province or some such; BC would not be far behind, and then what?If Canada manages to break from the tyrant to her south with respect to cannabis laws, then I would seriously consider packing up and heading north. I think you're right on the money there! Let these fascists roast their weenies and wave their flags July 4th (as they toast one another for jailing each other for using cannabis): lip service is almost all that is left of the "land of the free." [ Post Comment ] Comment #2 posted by kaptinemo on September 30, 2000 at 14:32:03 PT: The Fat Lady hasn't sung yet R.Earing, I don't wish to be the one to be pissing on the birthday cake, but the year prescribed by your government has 11 months to go before it's over. And in that time you no doubt will see a lot of pressure being exerted by Washington on Ottawa to change its' tune. Remember what happened with Mulroney? How he was such a strident foe of NAFTA...until he was invited to Washington? The same kind of thing happened to the California Attorney General when McCaffrey called him to Washington, right after the elections out there. He came back all but whimpering, with his tail between his legs, because McCaffrey had threatened him with arrest for failing to prosecute FEDERAL drug laws (when he was only responsible for prosecuting State laws; Lockyer is not a Federal official, and has no authority to prosecute Federal statutes.) The Federal government down here only obeys the laws when it has a good chance of getting caught for not doing so; it has proven that time and again. And it is not above blackmail to get what it wants.You Canucks have *got* to hold the line - and the feet of pols like Rock to the fire - to keep the pressure for rational cannabis laws to be enacted. If you do, if you stand fast, if a sensible law is enacted, then it's bye-bye cannabis prohibition down here. If only for one thing; loss of economic dynamism. How many highly-skilled technical people would emigrate? I've read some of the Canadian on-line newspapers for some time now; Canucks are worried about a brain-drain. Skilled workers seeking their fortunes in the States largely because of the economic factors being such a powerful draw. (It certainly can't be the TV dinners.) But what if the flow were reversed? What if the creative thinkers and doers, tired of idiotic cannabis laws, decided to pull up stakes and try a diet of Canadian bacon? Ontario would become the Silicon Province or some such; BC would not be far behind, and then what?The writing would be on the wall, in block letters 100 feet high: ditch the cannabis laws, or lose your economic edge. And the corporations which think they can run your life with piss tests would start sweating bullets. An honest to God domino theory is at work here, a very real one; most companies are quietly edging away from testing anyhow. They have learned a lesson that they thought to teach governments; there are people who *are* irreplacable. When they leave, chaos ensues. Tick them off, and when they leave, you're sunk. This is especially true in the IT industries. I work for people who don't test. One of my supers said quite plainly: "If they (the company we subcontract IT services for) try to test you, we'll do our level best to protect you. If necessary, we'll find you another position." They have learned what other firms have yet to tumble to.That edging away from testing would become a stampede if they thought their best people would would cut and run for cannabis-friendlier climates. So you can bet a lot of under-the-table wheeling-and-dealing to relax cannabis laws down here would take place. I keep saying this: Follow the money, always follow the money. When the money gets squeezed, when the rich folk get 'inconvenienced' by laws, the laws change. Such a widespread economic dislocation is something neither business nor Government can afford to have happen. Which is why I say that if you pull it off up there, the end will come relatively swiftly down here. If only because the fat cats want to become even fatter. [ Post Comment ] Comment #1 posted by r.earing on September 30, 2000 at 11:18:40 PT: LEGAL IN CANADA! 1-The Court through out the law banning possesion of MJ2-The Government has announced it WILL NOT appeal the ruling= MJ is LEGAL IN CANADA!REPEAT MJ IS LEGAL!And that is how she all ends up here in the snow!Not with a SWAT team or a helicopter assault,but with a bureaucrat trying to get re-elected and not wishing to lose a single pot smoking vote.Decent Civilization returns to the North American continent! Now ,line up for visas! See ya soon! [ Post Comment ] Post Comment Name: Optional Password: E-Mail: Subject: Comment: [Please refrain from using profanity in your message] Link URL: Link Title: