Pubdate: Fri, 12 Jun 2015
Source: Calgary Sun, The (CN AB)
Copyright: 2015 The Calgary Sun
Contact: http://www.calgarysun.com/letter-to-editor
Website: http://www.calgarysun.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/67
Author: Kristy Brownlee
Page: 22
Referenced: Supreme Court Judgment (R. v. Smith): 
http://mapinc.org/url/d2dzMbjW

EAT YOUR POT COOKIES, IT'S YOUR RIGHT

Munch away, medical pot users.

The Supreme Court of Canada says those entitled to use marijuana for 
medical reasons can now have edible forms of the drug, such as pot 
brownies or cookies, not just dried leaf to smoke.

The law had limited licensed users to only using dried marijuana and 
any other form could lead to criminal charges.

Owen Smith was charged in 2009 with possession and trafficking 
marijuana while he was the head of the Cannabis Buyers Club of Canada.

Police seized 211 cannabis cookies and 26 jars of THC-laced massage 
oil and lip balm from his Victoria, B.C., apartment. A B.C. judge 
acquitted Smith and the B.C. Court of Appeal also ruled in his 
favour, giving the federal government a year to change the law. Smith 
argued the law violated the Charter of Rights and was 
unconstitutional for limiting the lawful possession of medical 
marijuana to just the dried variety. The top court agreed.

The decision, released Thursday, says the prohibition to dried forms 
"limits liberty and security" as defined in the charter.

Health Minister Rona Ambrose said she's "outraged " by the ruling. 
Ambrose said the judges have called marijuana a medicine, but Health 
Canada hasn't approved it. "There's only one authority in Canada that 
has the authority and expertise to make a drug into a medicine and 
that's Health Canada," Ambrose said at a press conference.

She made the comments after she announced more oversight for Canadian 
medical marijuana providers.
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MAP posted-by: Jay Bergstrom