Pubdate: Thu, 25 Feb 2016
Source: Vancouver 24hours (CN BC)
Copyright: 2016 Vancouver 24 hrs.
Contact: http://vancouver.24hrs.ca/letters
Website: http://vancouver.24hrs.ca/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/3837
Author: Eric MacKenzie
Page: 3

COURT STRIKES DOWN MEDICAL MARIJUANA LAW

Supporters hope ruling leads to legal home production for all
Canadians

Cannabis activists celebrated a federal court decision delivered in
Vancouver Wednesday that found it unconstitutional to ban medical
marijuana users from growing their own plants at home.

Judge Michael Phelan also extended the injunction that allowed
licenced personal producers to continue growing for six months so the
federal government can draw up new legislation.

"The evidence does establish that under the single-source system of a
Licenced Producer, there is no guarantee that the necessary quality,
strain and quantity will be available when needed at some acceptable
level of pricing," wrote Phelan, who also didn't agree with testimony
suggesting there were hazards associated with home production of cannabis.

Local pot activist Dana Larsen said he's hopeful the ruling will have
an impact on anticipated federal legalization that extends to all Canadians.

"Hopefully, this will lead to a form of legalization that allows all
Canadians to grow some cannabis for themselves," he said.

Lawyer Kirk Tousaw, who represented the Nanaimo plaintiff that
launched the legal challenge, said he could see that being the case.

"The judge made very clear that there was no evidence that growing
cannabis posed any real risk to public safety or health. That's true
for medical cannabis or non-medical cannabis," said Tousaw. "It's the
illegality of cannabis that leads to people growing it in an unsafe
manner ... to the extent that people are taking shortcuts as the
result of prohibition.

"In my view, if you're legalizing cannabis but you're still locking
people in cages for growing it, you haven't legalized anything."

As for the potential impact the decision could have on sales at
dispensaries, Larsen - who operates The Medicinal Cannabis Dispensary
in Vancouver - said it's a non-issue in his mind, adding that his
establishment "put quite a bit of money" towards the plaintiffs' case.

"If a few of our patients choose to grow their own instead of buying
from us, I have no problem with that," he said. "I think legal
cannabis should be cheap enough and plentiful enough that people don't
bother growing their own. That's fine. But we shouldn't be busting
down the doors of people growing their own medicine."
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MAP posted-by: Matt