Pubdate: Sat, 11 Jan 2003
Source: Globe and Mail (Canada)
Page: A6
Copyright: 2003, The Globe and Mail Company
Contact:  http://www.globeandmail.ca/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/168
Author: Kirk Makin, Justice Reporter
Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/mjcn.htm (Cannabis - Canada)
Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/decrim.htm (Decrim/Legalization)

MARIJUANA LAWS TAKE ANOTHER POUNDING IN ONTARIO

Canada's marijuana laws absorbed another punishing blow yesterday when a 
Toronto judge concluded that the law is invalid and acquitted a man of 
possession.

Ontario Court Judge John Moore added momentum to a string of recent court 
rulings that have pummelled the law, saying their combined force leads down 
"a common-sense path."

Judge Moore endorsed a ruling by a Windsor, Ont., judge last week. He said 
the government erred when it created regulations to govern medicinal 
marijuana without enacting them in Parliament as legislation. He said the 
procedure was at odds with instructions from the Ontario Court of Appeal in 
a 2000 ruling.

Judge Moore also denied a federal request to hold off on the case against 
Martin Barnes until the Windsor ruling could be appealed.

The chain of events signifies that as with abortion, so with marijuana: The 
courts are slowly, but surely, forcing Parliament to put up or shut up.

The decisions have tightened a noose activists began fashioning years ago, 
when they realized that their best chance for marijuana reform lay with the 
judiciary.

On Thursday, an Ontario Superior Court judge ruled that a 
marijuana-distribution scheme for the ill was so inaccessible as to render 
it unconstitutional.

The same day, a judge near Ottawa acquitted ex-lawyer Rick Reimer of the 
rare charge of impaired driving caused by marijuana. Ontario Court Judge 
Bruce McPhee said he was left with reasonable doubt as to whether Mr. 
Reimer was impaired when police stopped him with a joint in his hand.

At the same time, a major decriminalization challenge is burning a hole in 
the Supreme Court of Canada docket. It could be heard as early as next spring.

The scenario has echoes of the battle over abortion rights, which reached 
its peak in a 1988 Supreme Court of Canada ruling that struck down the 
existing abortion-law regime.

When the federal government failed in a subsequent attempt to create a new 
law, the abortion war was effectively over.

"Parliament now has a chance to either bring in a marijuana 
decriminalization bill or just let the laws die judicially," said Alan 
Young, one of several lawyers who worked on a litigation strategy.

He said in an interview that he believes that the latest rulings "will be 
the final nail in the coffin."

He predicted that if the government tries to cut its losses by setting up a 
truly accessible distribution scheme for the ill, it will swiftly recognize 
how much money can be made from marketing marijuana.

Decriminalization will quickly follow, he said.
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MAP posted-by: Terry Liittschwager