Pubdate: Fri, 12 Jun 2015
Source: Vancouver 24hours (CN BC)
Copyright: 2015 Vancouver 24 hrs.
Contact: http://vancouver.24hrs.ca/letters
Website: http://vancouver.24hrs.ca/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/3837
Author: Kristy Brownlee
Page: 8
Referenced: (R. v. Smith): http://mapinc.org/url/d2dzMbjW

EAT YOUR POT COOKIES-IT'S YOUR CHARTER RIGHT!

Munch away, medical pot users. The Supreme Court of Canada says those
entitled to use marijuana for medical reasons can now have edible
forms of the drug, such as pot brownies or cookies, not just dried
leaf to smoke.

The law had limited licenced users to only using dried marijuana and
any other form could lead to criminal charges. Owen Smith was charged
in 2009 with possession and trafficking marijuana while he was the
head of the Cannabis Buyers Club of Canada.

Police seized 211 cannabis cookies and 26 jars of THC laced massage
oil and lip balm from his Victoria, B.C., apartment.

A B.C.judge acquitted Smith and the B.C. Court of Appeal also ruled in
his favour, giving the federal government a year to change the law.

Smith argued the law violated the Charter of Rights and was
unconstitutional for limiting the lawful possession of medical
marijuana to just the dried variety. The top court agreed.

The decision, released Thursday, says the prohibition to dried forms
"limits liberty and security" as defined in the charter.

"The evidence amply supports the trial judge's conclusions that
inhaling marihuana can present health risks and that it is less
effective for some conditions than administration of cannabis
derivatives," the decision states.

Ronan Levy, a director of Ontario's Canadian Cannabis Clinics, said
the ruling is good news for the medical marijuana community as they
"should be able to use it in a way that works for (them)."

But Levy said he wished the scope had gone further to actually
authorize producers to sell cannabis in other forms other than just
the dried product. Health Minister Rona Ambrose said she's"outraged"
by the ruling. Ambrose said the judges have called marijuana a
medicine, but Health Canada hasn't approved it.

"There's only one authority in Canada that has the authority and
expertise to make a drug into a medicine and that's Health Canada,"
Ambrose said at a press conference. She made the comments after she
announced more oversight for Canadian medical marijuana providers.They
must now send quarterly patient prescription information reports to
provincial and territorial licensing bodies to prevent misuse.
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MAP posted-by: Matt