Pubdate: Fri, 19 Jan 2018
Source: Mission City Record (CN BC)
Copyright: 2018 The Mission City Record
Contact:  http://www.missioncityrecord.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/1305
Author: Vikki Hopes

POT CHARGES WILL NOT BE THROWN OUT

Bob Woolsey says laws were not valid at the time of alleged
offences

A Mission man lost a court challenge this week to have his
marijuana-trafficking charges thrown out.

Bob Woolsey had argued during a hearing that ran from Nov. 20 to 23
and on Dec. 12 in Abbotsford provincial court that he was not
operating against the law when he allegedly sold marijuana and other
derivative products to undercover police officers in late 2015.

Woolsey was operating a "compassion club" in Deroche at the time. The
Crown alleges that he sold the products to the officers, even though
they did not produce the proper medical documentation.

Woolsey and his wife, Dawn Parker, were arrested by the Mission RCMP
on Nov. 25, 2015 after police busted their location on Taylor Road.

Woolsey was later charged with five counts of trafficking in a
controlled substance.

His trial on those charges began in November and will continue now
that the application to quash his indictment has been heard, with
Judge Kenneth Skilnick rendering his decision against Woolsey on Monday.

In the application, Woolsey argued that at the time of his alleged
offences, it was not against the law to possess marijuana or sell it.

At the time, the Marihuana for Medical Purposes Regulations (MMPR)
were in place. However, a federal court decision in February 2016
declared that a portion of the MMPR that prohibited patients from
growing their own medical cannabis was unconstitutional.

The government was then given six months to revise the
regulations.

Woolsey argued in his application that because the MMPR was ruled
invalid, it should follow that the Controlled Drugs and Substances Act
(CDSA) - which makes it an offence to possess marijuana - was also
unconstitutional, and that his charges under the act should not proceed.

The Crown argued that just because the MMPR was found to be invalid,
it does not mean that the sections of the CDSA that make it an offence
to possess, grow or sell marijuana should be unenforceable.

"The Crown says firstly that the law is otherwise, and if the federal
court had intended to invalidate the relevant sections of the CDSA, it
would have ordered so," court documents state.

Skilnick agreed with the Crown's position, ruling that at the time of
the alleged offences, "it was in fact an offence to traffic in marijuana."

Woolsey's trial resumes in Abbotsford provincial court on Feb. 28.
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MAP posted-by: Matt