Pubdate: Thu, 16 Jan 2003
Source: Victoria News (CN BC)
Copyright: 2003 Victoria News
Contact:  http://www.vicnews.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/1267
Author: Don Descoteau

COURT DECISIONS ON POT WON'T AFFECT POLICE TACTICS

Medical marijuana advocates in Victoria are enthusiastic that a pair of 
rulings brought down in Ontario last week will pave the way for a relaxing 
of possession enforcement here.

But the Victoria police department isn't about to change its approach 
simply because judges in that province not only threw out a simple 
possession charge against a Windsor teen- ager on a technicality, they for 
all intents gave the government six months to re-write the law.

"The bottom line is, it's a case which has occurred in Ontario and while it 
may be persuasive to B.C. courts, I wouldn't say they have to follow suit," 
says Victoria police Deputy Chief Geoff Varley. He adds that since the laws 
on the books have not changed, the department is under no obligation to 
change the way it does things.

"Unless we hear something different from the B.C. courts or the Crown, 
it'll be business as usual."

In ruling on a class action suit last week, Ontario Superior Court Justice 
Sidney Lederman said that Canada's medical marijuana access regulations 
were unconstitutional because they, in effect, force people with Health 
Canada exemptions to use marijuana to get their pot from "drug dealers". He 
gave the federal government six months to fix the regulations to make it 
easier for patients to secure medical marijuana.

In the case in Windsor, Ontario, Provincial Court Justice Douglas Phillips 
accepted a defence argument that the federal government failed to comply 
with the stipulations set out in a 2000 Ontario Court of Appeal ruling -- 
which went in favour of epileptic marijuana user Terry Parker -- that 
called for it to re-write its possession law within a year to allow for 
medical exemptions.

Rather than pass a new law through parliament, however, the government 
chose to institute the Medical Marijuana Access Regulations. While Health 
Canada continues to issue exemptions for medical marijuana use, the 
regulations have been the subject of much controversy, given the fact no 
amount of the substance has been made legally available through government 
sources.

In recent months, federal politicians -- including Justice Minister Martin 
Cauchon -- have voiced interest in legalizing simple possession. But with 
the government backpedalling on its plans to supply medical marijuana and 
Prime Minister Jean Chretien encouraging a cautious approach to the whole 
matter, the federal government's position on the matter remains unclear.

While the police are virtually ignoring the decisions, people such as 
Phillipe Lucas figure there is cause to celebrate.

"There are so many court cases leading toward the same decision," says 
Lucas, spokesperson for the Vancouver Island Compassion Society, which 
supplies marijuana for patients from a shop in downtown Victoria. "I think 
this is just the Canadian courts saying `you've had your chance and you 
haven't acted'."

Lucas says if the personal possession laws were struck down, it would make 
the hundreds of members of his society feel a little more comfortable when 
they come to purchase marijuana products or use them at home.

Varley admits the Victoria police don't process a lot of simple possession 
charges in general and aren't about to engage in a campaign to determine 
which compassion club members have legal exemptions to use marijuana and 
which don't.

"Our focus remains people who are trafficking and supplying people, mainly 
because of their links to organized crime," he says. Varley adds that while 
many people might think simple possession is "no big deal", it's a 
simplistic argument to say that it stops there.

"Simple possession means that somebody has to provide it and somebody has 
to grow it and the people who are mainly involved in growing right now are 
organized crime."

Ted Smith, co-founder of the Victoria-based Cannabis Buyers' Club of Canada 
- -- the downtown shop that has been raided by police and trafficking charges 
sought on several occasions over the past couple of years -- says he can 
see compassion clubs being licensed by the government to provide cannabis.

It would mean the government would be in charge of regulating the 
distribution, he says, but even that would be better than living in fear of 
arrest by the police.

"We've almost been worried about how tightly regulated they might make 
things," he says, "but we hope they would use our experience in setting 
their policies."

Smith says he wouldn't have expected police to change their tactics when it 
comes to simple possession.

He doesn't disagree with Varley's claim that police don't often arrest 
people on charges of simple possession, given the amount of police and 
court time it takes to process charges.

Smith says for members of his club, that philosophy doesn't necessarily 
mean they'll be left alone, since police sometimes use the threat of 
possession or trafficking charges as leverage to gain information about the 
source of the pot.
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MAP posted-by: Larry Stevens