There will be a few quiet celebrations in some London homes this week. Celebrations because the Ontario Court of Appeal has ruled medicinal marijuana is legal for use by sick people who are helped by it. Quiet because the people most likely to benefit from this ruling are ill and simply don't have the energy for much more than a few hoorays. London's Lynn Harichy figures she'll muster a cheer or two despite the dreadful fatigue her multiple sclerosis causes. The London grandmother has been a strong crusader for the change, fighting with every weapon she could from letter-writing to trying to light up a joint on the steps of the London police station. [continues 528 words]
Lynn Harichy's long-awaited day in court should be a short one. The London grandmother and multiple sclerosis sufferer expects to have a charge of marijuana possession against her stayed in court Monday. Instead of fighting a courtroom battle to make medicinal marijuana available to people with MS, cancer, AIDS, epilepsy and any other illness it can ease, she plans to spend her waning energy on a bureaucratic fight to allow her alone to grow and use the weed. If successful, she'd be only the third person -- and the first without a terminal illness -- to be exempted by Health Canada from prosecution on marijuana cultivation and possession charges. [continues 605 words]
Police are watching London's medical marijuana buyers' club, vowing to swoop in if laws are broken. The London Cannabis Compassion Centre has quietly opened the doors to its first commercial outlet. It is located at 199 Wellington St. Although there is no sign on the storefront, police indicated they know it's there and said they'll move in at the right time. "We enforce the laws of the land, however they are written, so I would like to suggest that, if laws are being broken, at the appropriate time the issue will be addressed," police Chief Julian Fantino said yesterday. [continues 480 words]
'IT SAYS . . . THIS THING'S NOT SO BAD' Hours of class time spent teaching kids the evils of drugs crashed up against a very different message awash in nationalistic fervor when Canadian snowboarder Ross Rebagliati tested positive for pot, a sociologist says. "It says to . . . young people 'This marijuana thing's not so bad,' " University of Western Ontario sociology professor Paul Whitehead said Thursday. "It sends the message `This is not a big deal.' " Whitehead, also a school board trustee, said he was surprised by strong public opinion that the International Olympic Committee should have overlooked Rebagliati's positive test for use of the illegal drug as "a minor infraction, almost a technicality." [continues 451 words]
