Canada: Pot Possession Charges Stayed by Feds

Never mind!....They already have....we're on their shit list along with "old Europe" (France, Germany, Russia...)Oh I forgot, that's because we didn't send troops to Iraq...the ones we have in Afghanistan don't count!.....Man, it's all so damned destructive and STUPID!...peace...:)

The Medical Marijuana Access Regulations in Canada were found not to be adequate by the Ontario Court of Appeals about July 30, 2000 and were declared unconstitutional. They gave the Canadian Government a one year stay to come up with a workable plan and on the last day of that year they introduced something else that was unworkable. The case concerned an epileptic named Terry Parker whose life was threatened by not having access under Canada's regulations and the failure to comply with a workable plan lead to the fall of all cannabis crimes in Canada because then the laws would not be blocking access.

The July 31st date probably should be August1, 2001 and that is called Terry Parker day by some, meaning the day the prohibition laws died in Canada.

On October 6th the Ontario Supreme Court did something very controversial. They rewrote part of the MMAR that was dead under Canadian law and said we have now enacted legislation that governs cannabis laws in Canada. This is an issue that is being challenged with funding by Marc Emery that runs Marc Emery Seed Company that sells cannabis seeds and funds pot-tv.com.

The previous justice minister became the Health minister and has fought the implementation of medical marijuan tooth and nail. There are less than 600 people in all of Canada's 34 million people that have been able to get approval through the system. Her name would be Anne McClellan or some similar spelling. Just last week they said they would not allow a person to grow for 3 people that violated even what the Ontario Supreme Court said, which is justification enough for some groups in Canada in saying the law that is still dead, that the courts illusioned alive again, is now dead again because the Health Ministry is not living up to the law that the Ontario Supreme Court wrote.

At the same time there is pressure on the doctors by their professional association not to work in providing access. In a system where a GP can write a prescription, they make an exception for MMJ in saying you have to have two specialists in addition. The Ontario Supreme Court changed that to one specialist in AIDS and MS cases and maybe others, but it still disses the GP and puts an unusual burden on a sick person to get a specialist in an overburdened health care system where this could take a year. But it is the lack of cooperation by the doctors themselves with documentation asking for their noncompliance and the fact that only 600 have made it through the hurdles, that proves that access is not being provided but denied.

There are other Constitutional issues before the Canadian Supreme Court that could be coming out any week now. If a freedom is not allowed under the Charter of Rights and Freedoms it is up to the government to defend the taking away of that freedom. Cannabis Prohibition is older in Canada than it is in the US, while the Charter of Rights and Freedoms is a document of the early 1980's I believe. That is why the Constitutional challenge has not arisen earlier- because it is so young.

The big thing in this story is the power of the press. There were no Cannabis laws in Canada for almost two years before an Ontario Court of Appeals case made a declaration about May 6th saying the laws were dead. Even then there was a deliberate media effort to confuse the public, probably so the cultivation would be limitied. Now they make it official. We will not prosecute these 4000 people because they did not break any laws. How nice of them, especially it being Christmas time and all.

:D