Pubdate: Sun, 05 Jan 2003 Source: Victoria Times-Colonist (CN BC) Copyright: 2003 Times Colonist Contact: http://www.canada.com/victoria/timescolonist/ Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/481 Author: Bill Cleverey, Times Colonist Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/mjcn.htm (Cannabis - Canada) Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/decrim.htm (Decrim/Legalization) MARIJUANA ADVOCATE SEES JUDGE'S RULING AS STEP FORWARD The federal government has moved quickly to nip in the bud any notion of uncertainty in Canada's marijuana laws stemming from an Ontario court ruling. The government Friday expedited an appeal against Ontario Court Justice Douglas Phillips's ruling that sided with an Ontario teenager's lawyer who argued the law that makes possession of marijuana illegal is effectively invalid in that province. Nevertheless, Philippe Lucas, Victoria founder and director of the Vancouver Island Compassion Society, called the Ontario ruling another step toward the inevitable decriminalization of pot in this country. "Although it's not quite yet the time to walk down the street with a joint in hand, I think it certainly seems to be following the steps of current policy," he said. Lucas said the activist community in general is pleased with the decision. "We feel what the public is going to come to understand is that not only is it a decision affecting recreational use but the decision came about as a rebuke of the implementation of the government's own medical marijuana program." In the Ontario case, lawyer Brian McAllister successfully argued the possession charge against his 16-year-old client should be dropped because Ottawa has not yet adequately dealt with a ruling two years ago from the Ontario court of Appeal. In that decision the appeals court sided with a marijuana user who argued the law violated the rights of sick people using the drug for medical reasons. The federal government responded with its Marijuana Medical Access Regulations which are supposed to allow marijuana use for certain medical reasons but which have been widely criticized for being cumbersome, unfair and tangled in red tape. Those marijuana regulations are also subject to a separate constitutional challenge in Toronto by a group of marijuana users who say their rights to choose their own form of treatment are being violated. Lucas said the federal government has to re-address its approach to medical marijuana which allows certain people to smoke marijuana and to grow it themselves for medicinal purposes but doesn't provide a supply. "In 3 1/2 years and almost $5 million spent they haven't supplied a single seed or a single gram of cannabis to a single legal user in Canada. All they've done, essentially, is issue 1,000 pieces of paper. ... It's an illusion of a policy. It's like saying: 'You've got a bad infection, go make your own penicillin." In making public the notice of appeal, federal Justice Department spokesman Jim Leising said regardless of the recent Ontario decision the Controlled Drugs and Substances Act is still the law of the land in Canada and police will proceed with usual in laying charges. Although there has been talk out of Ottawa about decriminalizing possession of 30 grams of marijuana or less, Victoria Liberal MP David Anderson, who sits in cabinet as environment minister, said he has not had a chance to think hard on the marijuana issue. Anderson said the first thing that occurs to him is the effect decriminalization or legalization would have on Canada's relations with the U.S. He said with tighter security at the border these days the number of busts for drugs has increased. What effect would decriminalization have at the border? "If we cause problems at the border it's another issue we have to take a look at," said Anderson. As for whether he, personally, ever puffed on a marijuana joint the answer is "No." Anderson said he gave up cigarettes as a young man and by the time marijuana started becoming popular he didn't want to inhale any kind of smoke and he was too far removed from the scene even to be tempted. "I'm an old man," said Anderson. Lucas said international attitudes to pot should not be a factor. "Most of Europe right now has more progressive policies than even the decriminalization we're looking at. Really what we're talking about would be some disconcertment from the U.S. But since they have the highest drug usage rates in the world and they spend more money than anyone else in the world trying to curb those usage rates, we probably shouldn't use them as an example of how to govern our policy," he said. - --- MAP posted-by: Terry Liittschwager