Pubdate: Fri, 20 Mar 2015
Source: Regina Leader-Post (CN SN)
Copyright: 2015 The Leader-Post Ltd.
Website: http://www.leaderpost.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/361
Author: Ian MacLeod
Page: B8

MARIJUANA COOKIES GET HIGH COURT HEARING

OTTAWA - Canada's high court is contemplating whether it's a
constitutional right to munch cookies, brownies and oils laced with
medical marijuana.

Federal regulations restrict authorized users of physician-prescribed
cannabis to consuming only dried marijuana plants. Brewing pot in tea,
baking it into a brownie or any form of consumption other than smoking
the dried plant buds can trigger criminal trafficking and narcotics
possession charges under the Controlled Drugs and Substances Act.

The question Friday before the Supreme Court of Canada, in its first
foray into the medical marijuana debate, is whether the Health Canada
regulation violated medical marijuana users' constitutional right to
life, liberty and safety.

That's what Owen Smith contends.

Police in 2009 found more than 200 pot cookies and cannabis-infused
olive oil and grapeseed oil in his Victoria apartment. The former head
baker for the Cannabis Buyers Club of Canada was charged with
possession for the purpose of trafficking and unlawful possession of
marijuana.

At Smith's 2012 trial, lawyer Kirk Tousaw argued the restrictive
regulation was unconstitutional and arbitrary, and did not further the
government's interest in protecting public health and safety.

Instead, it forces the critically and chronically ill to smoke medical
marijuana, which is potentially harmful, he said.
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