Pubdate: Wed, 08 Oct 2003 Source: Winnipeg Free Press (CN MB) Copyright: 2003 Winnipeg Free Press Contact: http://www.winnipegfreepress.com/ Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/502 Author: Gillian Livingston / Canadian Press Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/mjcn.htm (Cannabis - Canada) Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/decrim.htm (Decrim/Legalization) POT ILLEGAL IN ONT. AGAIN AFTER COURT AMENDS RULES TORONTO -- Possessing small amounts of pot is illegal again in Ontario after an appeal court ruling yesterday struck down parts of Ottawa's medicinal marijuana program. In the process of striking provisions it deemed unconstitutional, the Ontario Court of Appeal sealed a legal loophole opened in January that had rendered Canada's pot-possession laws virtually unenforceable. "That little gap that we had in Ontario where the law did not exist and police could not arrest you for smoking (marijuana) is over," lawyer Alan Young said outside court. The court upheld an earlier Ontario Superior Court ruling that found patients who qualified under the program were unfairly restricted in obtaining a safe, legal supply of the drug. But it stopped short of the remedy many marijuana advocates had been hoping for: striking down the law in its entirety. Instead, the three-judge panel nimbly singled out and struck down specific provisions of the federal Marijuana Medical Access Regulations in order to restore the plan's constitutionality. Those provisions restricted licensed growers from receiving compensation for their product, growing the drug for more than one qualified patient and pooling resources with other licensed producers. It also struck down a requirement that sick people get two doctors to validate their need to use marijuana as a drug. The appeal court agreed with a lower court ruling in January that deemed the government's regulations unconstitutional because they forced participants to either grow their own pot or buy it on the black market. - --- MAP posted-by: Terry Liittschwager