Pubdate: Mon, 12 Mar 2001 Source: Victoria News (CN BC) Copyright: 2001 Victoria News Contact: http://www.vicnews.com/ Author: Matt Ramsey POT ACTIVIST PREPARES FOR THE COURT FIGHT OF HIS LIFE Ted Smith, marijuana activist and founder of the Vancouver Island Cannabis Buyers Club, has launched a constitutional challenge to Canada's drug trafficking laws. Smith told the Weekend Edition he and attorney Bob Moore-Stewart plan to argue that the nation's trafficking laws are both "arbitrary and disproportionate", in that they don't distinguish between selling a controlled substance (in this case, marijuana) versus giving or sharing that substance with others. Their draft constitutional question notice (sent last week to B.C. Attorney General Graeme Bowbrick and Attorney General of Canada Anne McLellan) comes on the heels of two incidents in November, 2000, in which Smith was arrested by Saanich and Victoria police, and charged with possession of a controlled substance and trafficking in a controlled substance. The first arrest took place at the University of Victoria. Smith was charged with trafficking and possession for the purpose of trafficking after police witnessed him passing a marijuana joint to another person, during what Smith says was a weekly meeting of the Hempology 101 Club of UVic Students' Society. The second arrest occurred one week later, as Smith prepared to give away several hundred "pot cookies" at the Victoria Public Library courtyard on Broughton St. He was charged with possession for the purpose of trafficking in that instance. The constitutional argument (which will be heard before the criminal trials for the two cases move forward) alleges that the inclusion of marijuana in the Controlled Drugs and Substances Act is no longer appropriate, considering that present knowledge of the drug does not support the stand that it is harmful to human health. "The effect of this overbreadth of the law by the inclusion of marijuana as a prohibited substance under the Controlled Drugs and Substances Act is arbitrary and disproportionate, and based on irrational and unproven and unfounded fears," the argument states. Furthermore, "health-related costs of cannabis use generally, whether smoked or eaten, are negligible when compared to the costs attributable to tobacco and alcohol consumption." Smith further alleges that he was "singled out" for arrest at UVic "because he is a political activist". The challenge also details what Smith and Moore-Stewart believe are irregularities in court proceedings to date. Smith has attempted twice to have all pre-trial and trial proceedings take place in open court and has twice been denied. A closed pre-trial conference is scheduled to take place Feb. 20, at which time Smith expects a date for the constitutional argument to be set. Despite the prospect of a year or two (or more) in court, Smith is upbeat about his pending tangle with the legal system. He says it's time for Canada's laws regarding marijuana to be put under the microscope - and he doesn't mind being a test case. "I was prepared to give something away that would have made them feel better," he says of the pot cookies arrest. He notes that the sentence for trafficking is five years less a day, the same as that for rape. "The question is, 'Should the individual doing so be considered as malicious as a person who rapes another?'" he asks. If he loses the constitutional argument, Smith says he fully expects to go to trial on the charges. He says that, should he win, the federal government will be forced to re-evaluate the way it deals with marijuana in this country. "If I win," he says, "the trafficking laws in Canada are null and void." - --- MAP posted-by: Josh Sutcliffe