Pubdate: Tue, 03 Feb 2009 Source: StarPhoenix, The (CN SN) Copyright: 2009 The StarPhoenix Contact: http://www.canada.com/saskatoonstarphoenix/letters.html Website: http://www.canada.com/saskatoonstarphoenix/ Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/400 Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/mmjcn.htm (Cannabis - Medicinal - Canada) COMPASSION CLUBS CAN GROW POT Canwest News Service A B.C. Supreme Court justice has endorsed a recent Federal Court decision saying the national marijuana program is unconstitutional. Justice Marvyn Koenigsberg gave Ottawa one year to fix the medical-marijuana access regulations so compassion clubs or producers can get together and run a common marijuana-growing operation. The federal government restricts any licensed grower to supplying only one licensed user, and prohibits more than three growers from pooling resources. Both those restrictions are unconstitutional, Koenigsberg ruled. Although she ruled the regulations are unconstitutional, she also found Mathew Beren of Victoria guilty of illegally trafficking and producing marijuana. But she gave him an absolute discharge. A 35-year-old hydroponic-store owner, Beren was charged in 2004 after a raid on a research facility operated by the Vancouver Island Compassion Society. - --- MAP posted-by: Larry Seguin