cannabisnews.com: Medicinal Pot User Awaits Ottawa's New Rules 





Medicinal Pot User Awaits Ottawa's New Rules 
Posted by FoM on April 05, 2001 at 10:39:41 PT
By Tracey Tyler, Toronto Star Staff Reporter 
Source: Toronto Star
For a drug raid, it was a polite affair. Before charging Jim Wakeford with marijuana possession and seizing 254 cannabis plants, drug squad officers helped him carry his apple crumb pie from the car.But Wakeford, who made a brief court appearance yesterday in connection with the March 2 raid, thinks the ''decency'' of individual officers belies the indecency of a federal scheme for allowing sick Canadians to smoke dope.
The statutory exemption that shields him from prosecution as long as he possesses no more than 30 grams of dried marijuana and seven plants is insufficient to meet his medical needs, says Wakeford, who has AIDS.The limit is too small, he argues, and there's no immunity for other people who grow and supply him with the drug.Sources say Health Minister Allan Rock may unveil new regulations tomorrow that spell out criteria for granting exemptions from criminal possession laws for both sick people and caregivers who help grow or obtain the marijuana.But Wakeford's lawyer, Alan Young, is skeptical.The federal government argued against caregiver immunity when it squared off against Wakeford's legal team in the Ontario Court of Appeal on the day of the raid.The three-judge panel reserved its decision and Young thinks the health department is trying to create the impression it's moving forward on the issue so the court won't order the government to also grant caregiver exemptions.''I think they're floating the caregiver issue to influence the courts, that's my opinion,'' Young said in an interview. ''I don't know definitively and I could be wrong, but I don't think there's a lot to it (the proposal).Roslyn Tremblay, a health department spokesperson, cited the fact she doesn't know who the source is as the reason she couldn't comment on the issue of caregiver immunity yesterday. She added she doesn't know what new regulations will say.But last month in the Court of Appeal, Ottawa was doing everything to keep the judges away from the issue. Wakeford was asking the court to order Ottawa to grant his caregivers an exemption and do all it can to find him a source of the drug. Federal lawyer Roslyn Levine urged the court to reject the requests.One of her main arguments was that Wakeford's lawyers were in the wrong court. If they were in the right place, Levine argued, the court should still reject the idea of caregiver exemptions because it could only result in an unwieldy, unmanageable system.Young suggested making it easier by giving Ottawa the names of caregivers.But the federal government took the view that Wakeford isn't in a situation of imminent peril or danger without a supply of marijuana from other people and can cultivate it himself.Wakeford, who was also pulled over a few days after the raid and charged with possessing about a pound of marijuana, says he finds it difficult to grow because his health is frail and he tires easily.He says he was planning to share the plants that were seized at the house in Udora and the pound he was carrying in his car with other chronically ill friends.Late last month, Young sent a letter to the head of the federal justice department's criminal prosecution office in Toronto, listing the names of 14 of Wakeford's friends who have exemptions. He demanded that ''all of the medicine be returned'' to his client and the charges withdrawn.Wakeford repeated the request in the Superior Court of Justice in Newmarket yesterday but was told the court didn't have the jurisdiction to make the order. His case was remanded to May 16.With files from Leslie Ferenc. Note: Wakeford, charged with marijuana possession, says current legislation doesn't work.Source: Toronto Star (CN ON)Author: Tracey Tyler, Toronto Star Staff Reporter Published: April 5, 2001Copyright: 2001 The Toronto Star Contact: lettertoed thestar.com Website: http://www.thestar.com/ Related Articles & Web Sites:Jim Wakeford Medical Marijuana Websitehttp://www.interlog.com/~wakeford/Canada Gazettehttp://canada.gc.ca/gazette/gazette_e.htmlGovernment To Propose Easier Access To Marijuana http://cannabisnews.com/news/thread9257.shtmlPot Rules To Exempt Ill, Their Caregivers from Law http://cannabisnews.com/news/thread9251.shtml 
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