Pubdate: Wed, 16 Mar 2005
Source: Comox Valley Record (CN BC)
Copyright: 2005 Comox Valley Record
Contact:  http://www.comoxvalleyrecord.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/784
Author: Bruce MacInnis
Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/af.htm (Asset Forfeiture)
Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/mmjcn.htm (Cannabis - Medicinal - Canada)
Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/decrim.htm (Decrim/Legalization)

MARIJUANA LAWS QUESTIONED

Former Marijuana Party candidate Noreen Evers hopes to overturn marijuana 
laws during a court appearance on Thursday.

Evers ran for the Marijuana Party in the North Island in the 2001 
provincial election and collected 4.5 per cent of the vote.

She is scheduled to appear in provincial court on Thursday to face charges 
of producing marijuana for purposes of trafficking. She was arrested in 
Black Creek on May 14, 2004.

She says she plans to ask the court to quash the charge, claiming that the 
marijuana prohibition in the Controlled Drugs and Substances Act has been 
ruled unconstitutional by various courtsand is therefore null and void.

"Prosecution of a null prohibition affects not only myself but the public 
at large as well as offends the administration of justice," she said in an 
application to the court quash the the charge.

Evers bases her application on Section 601.1 of the Criminal Code of 
Canada, which enables the court to quash a charge before an accused has 
pleaded if the law is defective.

Evers wants the court to rule that the Controlled Drugs and Substances Act 
and the Medical Marijuana Access Regulations violate the Canadian Charter 
of Rights and Freedoms. She also wants the court to order police to return 
grow equipment confiscated when she was arrested and to compensate her for 
plants confiscated by the RCMP at the time.

She says the decision could have far-reaching consequences and could give 
other people in similar situations to demand reparations.

"I didn't even smoke pot when I ran in the election. I met a lot of people 
who used marijuana for medicinal purposes. It's very difficult to obtain 
from the government and they wanted to legalize it for that reason.

That July I smoked it and my back pain just went away and that is how the 
North Island Compassion Club came into being," she said.
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MAP posted-by: Beth