Pubdate: Sat, 20 Mar 2010
Source: Telegraph-Journal (Saint John, CN NK)
Copyright: 2010 Brunswick News Inc.
Contact: http://telegraphjournal.canadaeast.com/onsite.php?page=contact
Website: http://telegraphjournal.canadaeast.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/2878
Author: Derwin Gowan, Telegraph-Journal

MAN CAN RENEW POT-GROWING LICENCE

ST. STEPHEN - An Elmsville man can see the end of his  legal travails
following proceedings in St. Stephen  provincial court.

Judge David Walker handed Adam Troy Dickerson, 28, a  conditional
sentence of six months for growing and  possession of marijuana. He
will serve the sentence in  the community, rather than in jail, as
long as he  abides by the terms of the conditional sentence order,
Walker ruled.

The conviction will not prevent him from renewing his  licence from
Health Canada to grow marijuana for  medicinal use, the judge
determined. After consulting  with each other during a break, federal
Crown  prosecutor Peter Thorn and defence counsel Joel Hansen  agreed
that Dickerson could still renew his medical use  licence despite this
conviction.

The RCMP charged Dickerson with the two drug offences,  plus unsafe
storage of a firearm, after searching his  home in October 2008. He
pleaded guilty.

On Hansen's advice, he later applied for a permit to  grow and use
marijuana for pain under the federal  Marijuana Medical Access
Regulation. Dickerson suffers  from spondylitis, a disorder of the
vertebrae.

Health Canada granted the permit, but the rules don't  allow people
convicted of designated drug offences  after getting these licences to
renew them. The  Canadian court system doesn't enter convictions,
technically, until sentencing - after Health Canada  granted Dickerson
his licence.

Hansen argued that Walker should stay the charges to  prevent what he
called an "absurd" outcome.

Until the federal government enacted the medical use  regulation,
judges sometimes stayed drug charges to  allow people to use marijuana
medicinally, both lawyers  and the judge agreed Tuesday.

With the regulation in place, judges should issue these  stays far
more rarely, Thorn argued. Walker agreed. He  declined to issue a stay
in this case.

The designated offences for refusing to renew medical  use permits
don't include production and simple  possession, Walker said. A
trafficking offence would  have been another matter, he and the
lawyers agreed.

With no evidence before the court on whether Dickerson  grew the
marijuana for recreational use, medicinal  purposes or for
trafficking, the court must give him  the benefit of the doubt, Thorn
conceded.

He argued for a jail sentence, but didn't object to  Dickerson's
serving it conditionally in the community.

"We have a gentleman who was growing a substantial  amount of
marijuana," Thorn said.

The RCMP seized 125 grams or marijuana plus 38 plants.  Dickerson's
medical user licence allows eight plants,  Thorn said.

"The message is: Look at the regulation, see your  doctor and do it
the right way," he said.

In the conditional sentence order, Walker ordered  Dickerson attend an
assessment and, if ordered, take  counselling for addiction issues and
exploring  alternatives to pain control. 
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