Pubdate: Fri, 12 Jun 2015
Source: Toronto Sun (CN ON)
Copyright: 2015 Canoe Limited Partnership
Contact: http://www.torontosun.com/letter-to-editor
Website: http://torontosun.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/457
Author: Kristy Brownlee
Page: 8
Referenced: (R. v. Smith): http://mapinc.org/url/d2dzMbjW

POT USERS EAT IT UP

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 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 that 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.

"The evidence amply supports the trial judge's conclusions that
inhaling marijuana can present health risks and that it is less
effective for some conditions than administration of cannabis
derivatives," the decision states.

Ronan Levy, a director of Ontario's Canadian Cannabis Clinics, said
the ruling is good news for the medical marijuana community as
they"should be able to use it in a way that works for (them)."

But Levy said he wished the scope had gone further to actually
authorize producers to sell cannabis in other forms other than just
the dried product.

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.

They must now send quarterly patient prescription information reports
to provincial and territorial licensing bodies to prevent misuse.
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MAP posted-by: Matt