Pubdate: Friday, 07 May 1999
Source: Toronto Star (Canada)
Page: A30
Copyright: 1999, The Toronto Star
Contact:  http://www.thestar.com/
Authors: Barbara Turnbull and Tracey Tyler, Staff reporters

SICK CAN APPLY FOR MEDICAL USE OF MARIJUANA

But Judge Calls New Federal Guidelines Unfair

For the first time in Canada, the federal government has set up a process
for sick and terminally ill people to apply for the right to use marijuana
without fear of being prosecuted.

But the guidelines, unveiled yesterday, are already being called seriously
flawed because those who sell pot to sick people can still be charged as
illegal traffickers.

"It's unfair. It's just patently unfair," Mr. Justice Harry LaForme said
yesterday after a senior government official presented the new guidelines in
Ontario's Superior Court.

LaForme summoned federal officials to his court to explain what Ottawa has
been doing in response to a request by Toronto AIDS patient Jim Wakeford to
be granted an exemption from prosecution for drug possession.

The Toronto judge ruled last summer that Wakeford's constitutional rights
were violated because the Controlled Drug and Substances Act prohibits him
from using marijuana to alleviate AIDS-related nausea and pain.

But since the act provided for exemptions, LaForme said Wakeford should
apply for one from the government instead of the court ordering Ottawa to
provide one.

Wakeford, 54, wrote to Rock last September. But federal justice department
lawyers admitted yesterday no formal application and review process existed
until the drafting of the guidelines produced yesterday.

Carole Bouchard, associate director of the federal drug surveillance bureau,
testified yesterday she still can't say when the government will rule on
Wakeford's application -- or that of 19 other Canadians who have made
similar requests.

"One gets the impression," LaForme remarked, that Ottawa has reached even
this point "kicking and screaming."

As part of the application process, Ottawa has now asked Wakeford to name
his marijuana supplier.

Federal justice department lawyer Chris Amerasinghe said that doesn't mean
Wakeford would be forced to expose a trafficker.

"There are other sources," he said.

"What are they?" asked the judge.

"He can grow it," Amerasinghe said.

But Wakeford's lawyer, Alan Young, asked LaForme to find the application
process meaningless and grant his client an interim exemption from
prosecution so he "doesn't have to fear being treated like a common criminal."

"I can't believe the cruelty of this government," Wakeford said after the
hearing. "I'm sick. I'm scared. I need help not harassment." 

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