Pubdate: Fri, 12 Jun 2015
Source: Daily Courier, The (CN BC)
Copyright: 2015 The Okanagan Valley Group of Newspapers
Contact: http://drugsense.org/url/5NyOACet
Website: http://www.kelownadailycourier.ca
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/531
Referenced: (R. v. Smith): http://mapinc.org/url/d2dzMbjW

CANADA SHOULD START RESEARCH

For those who smoke pot for fun, maybe Thursday's Supreme Court ruling
was no more than reason to giggle (not that you need any).

For those who rely on medical marijuana, it was a chance to
rejoice.

The Supreme Court of Canada ruled 7-0 against the federal government
in a case about medical marijuana. The feds were appealing against a
lower court decision that granted medical marijuana users the right to
consume the drug in other forms.

What that means is, if you need pot to stimulate your appetite as you
endure chemotherapy (for example), but you can't imagine smoking it,
you can use pot butter or pot honey in your pot tea.

The case made it all the way to the Supreme Court after police
arrested Victoria's Owen Smith of the Cannabis Buyers Club of Canada
for possessing 200 pot cookies and pot cooking oils in 2009 (grape
seed and olive oils infused with cannabis).

The government argued Health Canada should set guidelines around
pharmaceuticals, not Supreme Court judges. While that's a valid point,
the court took a different approach.

Limiting medical marijuana use to dried pot "limits life, liberty and
security of the person," the judges said.

It places users at risk of jail when they wouldn't face the same
threat if they possessed dried bud.

Further, it exposes people to other potential medical ailments such as
cancer or bronchial infections.

Health Minister Rona Ambrose was, as you might expect,
furious.

She said Health Canada has never put pot through the ringer. She wants
testing and standards and doesn't want to send the message to young
people that pot is healthy.

She's right, of course, and should take this opportunity to encourage
Canada to get behind the extensive research around the world about
cannabis and its benefits. The globe is saying pot is OK. Ecuador
became the first nation on Earth to legalize the drug. We all know
what's happening in Colorado and Washington State.

Canada needs to drop the act and start the lengthy process to
decriminalize marijuana - in all its forms.
- ---
MAP posted-by: Matt