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.
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MAP posted-by: Terry Liittschwager