Pubdate: Thu, 06 Nov 2008 Source: Globe and Mail (Canada) Copyright: 2008 The Globe and Mail Company Contact: http://www.globeandmail.ca/ Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/168 Author: Kevin Martin, Canadian Press Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/mmjcn.htm (Cannabis - Medicinal - Canada) CHARTER RIGHTS OF SICK DON'T EXCUSE TRAFFICKING IN DRUGS, COURT FINDS CALGARY -- Alberta's top court has ruled against medical marijuana crusader Grant Krieger. The Albert Court of Appeal says Mr. Krieger can't "piggyback" on the Charter rights of sick people to have access to medicinal marijuana. The three-judge court rejected submissions by defence lawyer John Hooker that Mr. Krieger should be given a constitutional exemption to Canada's trafficking laws. Mr. Hooker argued that patients to whom Mr. Krieger supplied marijuana were entitled to get it, but the government hadn't created a suitable scheme for them to obtain it. Mr. Krieger readily admitted providing the drugs through his Compassion Club to sick individuals who couldn't get doctors to approve marijuana prescriptions. Mr. Hooker said doctors are reluctant to provide patients with the necessary paperwork to get government approval for marijuana prescriptions. "It's extremely difficult for the members of the Compassion Club, the ill people ... to get their prescriptions," Mr. Hooker said. "He's trying to help extremely ill people and the government has blocked that." Mr. Hooker said that as in the case of Henry Morgentaler, who was acquitted of providing abortions at a time when it was illegal to do so, Mr. Krieger was trying to right a legal wrong. "If there's a manifest unfairness, it's got to be fixed," he said. "We're trying to piggyback Mr. Krieger on the rights of his patients." But Mr. Justice Ronald Berger, in giving the appeal court's unanimous ruling, said that Mr. Krieger wasn't entitled to rely on the Charter rights of others to ignore the law. "The appellant ... alleges that those he supplies are disadvantaged and accordingly he, the supplier, is entitled to adjunct constitutional protection," Judge Berger said. "That argument has to be rejected." A date for Mr. Krieger's appeal of his four-month sentence for trafficking has not yet been set. - --- MAP posted-by: Larry Seguin