Pubdate: Wed, 23 Apr 2014
Source: Gazette Vaudreuil-Soulanges  (CN QU)
Contact:  2014 Gazette Vaudreuil-Soulanges
Website: http://www.gazettevaudreuilsoulanges.com
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/5505
Author: Stephanie Azran

NEW MEDICAL MARIJUANA LAWS 'UNCONSTITUTIONAL'

The 420 Movement held co-ordinated smoke-ins this
past weekend to puff their displeasure at the
Harper government's proposed legislation
controlling the medical use of marijuana, but for
brothers John and Ray Turmel, there's no set time
to fire up a joint of their potent homegrown cannabis.

The brothers are among the 40,000 medically
licenced marijuana users affected by restrictive
Health Canada legislation calling for at-home
producers to destroy their crops or face a visit
from the police. The tax-grab move would regulate
production and distribution by producing medical
cannabis in commercial-grade facilities like the
one setting up in the old Hershey's chocolate
factory in Smith Falls, ON. Users have already
claimed that such a system would make the drug prohibitively expensive.

A last minute reprieve granted to a group of BC
growers has prompted John and Ray to rally
150-plus users to go before the federal courts on
April 29 in an event that will be telecast across the country.

"Bottom line: If we have the marijuana laws
declared unconstitutional, if there is no more
way for me to be protected from the prohibition
laws, then its repealed for everyone," said Ray,
who lives and grows on the Quebec/Ontario border.
"I could sit here and be protected=85but I know if
I give up my protection and declare it
unconstitutional because it really doesn't work
right than the laws are off for everyone."

John is the mastermind behind the attack; he is
picking up the loose ends stemming from various
court cases over the past 15 years, including a
pending Nova Scotia provincial case and the B.C.
one that led to the recent injunction.

In that instance, B.C. lawyer John Conroy sought
the injunction on the basis that the new Health
Canada laws are unconstitutional and compromise
the health of those who depend on cannabis to manage their illnesses.

John is operating on that issue, but bolstering
it by including witnesses who were never able to
get any pot because upwards of 90 per cent of doctors won't sign a script.

These are people who "could never get an
exemption with qualified illnesses like epilepsy=85
I made the witnesses testify to the lousy
non-medical reasons that doctors have used."

The next point of attack has John, who is not a
lawyer, offering kits to anyone looking for a
personal use exemption. Without the means to file
a class action suit, he's catalysing the cannabis crowd.

"Every time [someone puts] in a $2 statement of
claim, the registry has to alert the Crown and
the Crown has to present a statement of defence,
and a big record motion. So yes, they are gonna
be swamped with documentation." Then they move for compensation.

"If you shut down your grow two months ago and
you're allowed 2000 grams, you have to claim the
2000 times the $15," said John. "Plus if you
destroyed 50 plants you have to claim $50,000. That's how the police count
 it."

A secondary motion will see Health Canada held on
accounts of fraud and attempted genocide,
following John's statistical analysis of the
studies presented by Health Canada that led to
the new laws restricting personal amounts to 150
grams, which is substantially lower than actual daily dosages.

Next Tuesday, John, Ray et al. will go before
Federal Court judges in the hopes of finally
making the changes seen in Colorado, Washington State and Vermont.

"I'm going for the kill," said John, who
mentioned that the Crown attorney missed their
deadline to file a defence. "Now I get to move
for summary default judgement on the 29th.

"And if I don't kill it, everyone else asks for their exemptions."

Personal use exemption kits can be found at http://johnturmel.com/kits.htm
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MAP posted-by: Jay Bergstrom