Pubdate: Sat, 22 Mar 2003
Source: Moose Jaw Times-Herald (CN SN)
Copyright: 2003 The Moose Jaw Times-Herald Group Inc.
Contact:  http://www.mjtimes.sk.ca/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/2154
Note: no email LTEs accepted - use fax or mail
Author: Corey Atkinson, Times-Herald Reporter
Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/mjcn.htm (Cannabis - Canada)

LAWYER ARGUES CANADA DOESN'T HAVE A CONSISTENT POT LAW

A Moose Jaw Legal Aid lawyer has tried to convince a judge that Canada 
doesn't have a consistent law for the possession of marijuana and a charge 
against one of his clients should be stayed.

Merv Shaw argued Tuesday that because of recent decisions against the law 
in Ontario, Quebec and Prince Edward Island, people in Saskatchewan should 
have their charges stayed as well. His client is a 26-year-old man from 
Moose Jaw who has a charge of possession of marijuana.

"We're getting a number of people through here that are charged with 
possession of marijuana, primarily young people," Shaw said. It is his 
office's position that "possession of marijuana is no longer against the law."

A P.E.I. man had his charges stayed by a provincial court judge in that 
province, who said that "all residents of Canada wherever they are 
situated, are entitled, in fairness, to expect a uniformity of approach 
from the Federal Crown."

The law was deemed to be in violation of the Charter of Rights and Freedoms 
in a July 2000 decision by the Ontario Court of Appeal in the case of a man 
who grew his own marijuana for medicinal purposes to fight his epilepsy. 
The court gave the federal government a year to change the law. When the 
law was changed, it was an Ontario Superior Court of Justice judge who 
ruled that the newer law wasn't adequate to handle people's medicinal use 
of marijuana either.

The recent decisions in the Ontario and P.E.I. courts have essentially 
stayed charges of possession of marijuana because the federal laws don't 
appear to be read the same way across Canada.

"What does that do to the quality of citizens across the country?" asked Shaw.

His brief filed to the provincial court said the accused "is entitled to a 
law with regard to the possession of marijuana . . . which is clear, easy 
to understand and uniform across this country."

This case appears to be the first time the marijuana possession law has 
been challenged in Saskatchewan.

"If it has been, there hasn't been a decision handed down," Shaw said.

Judge David Orr will read his decision April 15 in provincial court.
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