What headlines don't detail is that this ruling appears to only apply to Ontario.
In any case, however, the government has 90 days to respond or cannabis Prohibition is effectively stricken. [update: given the fact that the Conservatives/wingers are leading in the polls right now in Canada, shouldn't the NDP/liberals in Canada jump on this issue? This could be electoral gold. I just did a bit of research, and every poll I've found from past three years shows majority support for legalization in Canada. Plus, it's been SEVEN YEARS since the Canadian Liberals have proposed decrim laws. Sounds like it's time to step game up.]
But this is big news:
Ontario is one step closer to the legalization of marijuana after the Ontario Superior Court struck down two key parts of the Controlled Drugs and Substances Act that prohibit the possession and production of pot.
The court declared the rules that govern medical marijuana access and the prohibitions laid out in Sections 4 and 7 of the act "constitutionally invalid and of no force and effect" on Monday, effectively paving the way for legalization.
If the government does not respond within 90 days with a successful delay or re-regulation of marijuana, the drug will be legal to possess and produce in Ontario, where the decision is binding.
The ruling stemmed from the constitutional challenge of Matthew Mernagh, a man who relies on medical marijuana to ease pain brought on by fibromyalgia, scoliosis, seizures and depression.
The Ontario Court of Appeal had previously recognized that to deprive someone with a serious illness of medical marijuana if it relieves their pain is a violation of the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedom
Read more: http://www.vancouversun.com/...
Canada: one step ahead, as usual. What with Bush-lite aka Stephen Harper and his cronies being knocked out temporarily, there are questions about how the Canadian govt will rush to counter this ruling.
Also: the charges made by the judge in this ruling could EASILY be applied to all but 2-4 of the States here in the USA with medical marijuana programs. And even in the states that have it, there are still DEA raids going on in 2011: California, Colorado, Montana, and Michigan have all seen DEA raids this year.
"I think it represents a dramatic step forward for critically and chronically ill Canadians," B.C. lawyer and foundation executive director Kirk Tousaw said Tuesday night. "It is undoubtedly going to progress through the court system . . . but it's gratifying to see a court has accepted what so many thousand medical marijuana patients have been saying for years — that it's incredibly difficult if not impossible to access medical marijuana."
Very interesting tidbit:
He compared the case to that of Henry Morgentaler, the abortion doctor and advocate whose constitutional win eventually led to the widespread legalization of abortion, one that "became legal without any real regulatory scheme surrounding it," Tousaw said.
Here's more:
In an April 11 ruling, Justice Donald Taliano found that doctors across the country have “massively boycotted” the medical marijuana program and largely refuse to sign off on forms giving sick people access to necessary medication.
As a result, legitimately sick people cannot access medical marijuana through appropriate means and must resort to illegal actions.
Doctors’ “overwhelming refusal to participate in the medicinal marijuana program completely undermines the effectiveness of the program,” the judge wrote in his ruling.
“The effect of this blind delegation is that seriously ill people who need marijuana to treat their symptoms are branded criminals simply because they are unable to overcome the barriers to legal access put in place by the legislative scheme.”
Taliano declared the program to be invalid, as well as the criminal laws prohibiting possession and production of cannabis. He suspended his ruling for three months, giving Ottawa until mid-July to fix the program or face the prospect of effectively legalizing possession and production of cannabis.
http://www.thestar.com/...
And.....FREE MARC EMERY! The U.S. Federal Prosecutor who helped lead the way for us to lock up a Canadian citizen on US pot laws for 5 years is now an advocate for outright marijuana legalization.
Random social commentary:
Pot prohibition is due to social stigma in some places. Yet, the stigma is caused by Prohibition. They feed off each other. We all know alcohol is addictive, but it's validated by the existence of bars.
The thought of folks smoking pot by themselves at home doesn't scare many Americans anymore, but some still see it as 'drug use'. But it's only a black-market substance due to idiotic laws that only apply to those of color/ poverty, which all of you know of course.
We don't like the idea of alcoholics driving home from bars, but we still find booze more socially acceptable because brick-and-mortar sites exist for booze.
An interesting social psychology aspect of our culture is how, even if cannabis were legalized, it would take years for the stigma to die.
Number of fatal marijuana overdoses as of 2011: 0
THIS week’s Economist-YouGov poll contains some exciting news for devotees of the weed. A huge majority of Americans, more than two to one once don’t knows have been excluded, support the legalisation and taxation of marijuana. Even without excluding the don’t knows, a clear majority favours treating the drug equivalently to tobacco and alcohol.
The data (see chart) reveal some interesting patterns. In every age group, more people favour than oppose legalisation. Predictably enough, the young are very strongly in favour, but babyboomers are almost as strongly so; and even those over 65 are narrowly in favour as well. Breaking the poll down by party, one finds that Republicans as well as Democrats are in favour, though the former much more narrowly so.
http://www.economist.com/...
Speaking of Judges....
"Estimates suggest that from 20 to 50 million Americans routinely, albeit illegally, smoke marijuana without the benefit of direct medical supervision. Yet, despite this long history of use and the extraordinarily high numbers of social smokers, there are simply no credible reports to suggest that consuming marijuana has caused a single death. By contrast, aspirin, a commonly used, over-the-counter medicine, causes hundreds of deaths each year."
DEA Administrative Law Judge Francis L. Young
Opinion and Recommended Ruling, Findings of Fact, Conclusions of Law
"A smoker would theoretically have to consume nearly fifteen hundred pounds of marijuana within about 15 minutes to induce a lethal response... In strict medical terms, marijuana is far safer than many of the foods we commonly consume. For example, eating ten raw potatoes can result in a toxic response. By comparison, it is physically impossible to eat enough marijuana to induce death."
DEA Administrative Law Judge Francis L. Young
Opinion and Recommended Ruling, Findings of Fact, Conclusions of Law
Obama and Rep Weiner: Fear Ye Not the Plant
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My first incarceration on cannabis charges came on MLK Day a few years ago, and I read the local newspaper stories on him in my cell. So I'm throwing this in here for anyone else who's been arrested for cannabis:
"In any civilized society, it is every citizen's responsibility to obey just laws. But at the same time, it is every citizen's responsibility to disobey unjust laws."
Martin Luther King Jr
And for reefer madness advocates:
"Abusus non tollit usum." [Abuse is no argument against proper use.]
Latin Proverb
----------------update--
go check out drcnet.org 's feature on this story:
http://stopthedrugwar.org/...
"Who knows?" speculated Tousaw, "The government could always choose not to re-legislate, as it did with the abortions laws after the Morgentaler decision [striking down Canada's abortion laws], and finally put an end to the harms being caused by marijuana prohibition."
Who knows, indeed? Prime Minister Stephen Harper and his Conservative government are avowed foes of marijuana law reform. But Canadian voters go to the polls May 2 to elect a new national government, and by the time election day is over, Canada could once again be led by the Liberals. They failed to even decriminalize marijuana the last time they were in power, but perhaps they would be willing to think again in 2011.