Canada's pot law could change soon

[Dr Dog]

Monopoly on pot fought
By BRETT CLARKSON, SUN MEDIA




It's a marijuana "monopoly" that deserves to go up in smoke, activists say.

Lawyers representing a group of 30 medicinal marijuana users will be in court Monday to fight the federal government's bid to keep control of large-scale medicinal pot distribution in Canada.

Activists say the government-issued pot is weak.

They say Health Canada's regulation that forbids licensed pot growers from providing weed to more than one sick person at a time is unfair and arbitrary.

Currently, government-issue pot is only grown by one company, Prairie Plant Systems in Manitoba.

Any licensed medicinal marijuana user who doesn't have an exclusive grower that only provides pot to them -- and them only -- is restricted to smoking the government bud.

The group of 30 patients wanted to all get their medicinal weed from a small-scale provider called Carousel but were unable to because of the federal regulation, so they took their battle to the courts.

Justice department lawyers will argue the government's appeal of a decision early this January by Federal Court Justice Barry Strayer, who awarded the patients a victory by ruling against the federal policy.

Strayer concluded the Health Canada regulation was unconstitutional.

But despite Strayer's ruling, the federal restriction still stands. The federal government got a stay of the judgment while the case was under appeal.

Alan Young, one of the lawyers for the 30 patients, said the patients want more freedom to choose their own medicinal marijuana without being forced to smoke the government's crop.

If the appeal is denied after Monday's one-day hearing at the Federal Court of Appeal, patients will enjoy greater access to medicinal marijuana without having to worry about being the sole client of the grower, Young said.

However, Young added if the federal government loses the appeal, it's possible they could take their case to the Supreme Court.





Side note here, the supreme court have already made this a fairly tolerant country in regards to Marijuana, will be interesting to see this happen

 

[zingablack]

good luck to them. hope the US follows suit and lets mmj be allowed everywhere

 

[Pops]

The pot grown by Prairie Plant Systems is twice as strong as the pot the U.S. Government grows at U. Miss.

 

[Shlomo]

Finally they're making it happen! Prairie Plant Systems used a lot of tobacco methodology to grow and process their product, and if you've ever seen their shit, it is FUCKING AWFUL; Crumbly weak bammer.

The pot grown by Prairie Plant Systems is twice as strong as the pot the U.S. Government grows at U. Miss.

That shit is hemp!

 

[chubbynugs]

Hurray for Canada dog. Only if America would get with the program.

 

[luaith]

their buds look good to me..
http://www.prairieplant.com/medicinal-marijuana.htm

 

[Monad]

looks are deceiving

 

[toba_hoser]

I heard that the tobacco methodology they used to process was to basically grind the entire plant and hand it out that way. I couldnt say how ture that is but if true thats total bs.

 

[Thiru Valluvar]

For one thing it's not organic, and I would say it definitely should be for medical users. If that's not bad enough, it is IRRADIATED. Totally bogus.

 

[billy_big_bud!]

http://www.torontosun.com/news/canada/2008/10/27/7221016.html

 

[Thiru Valluvar]

Thanks for the link, BBB!

For those who don't like links:

Court breaks medical marijuana monopoly

By THE CANADIAN PRESS

Last Updated: 27th October 2008, 3:33pm

A court decision that effectively loosens Ottawa’s tight grip on access to medical marijuana has been upheld by the Federal Court of Appeal.

The court dismissed an appeal today from government lawyers who argued Ottawa’s monopoly on medical pot was the only way to provide a safe and reliable supply.

The Jan. 10 decision upheld today essentially grants medical marijuana users more freedom in picking their own grower and allows growers to supply the drug to more than one patient.

Lawyer Alan Young, who represented medical users, says the decision is “good for the patients.”

Prior to the January ruling, medical users could grow their own pot but growers like Carasel Harvest Supply Corp. couldn’t supply the drug to more than one user at a time.

Lawyers for medical users argued that restriction effectively established Health Canada as the country’s sole legal provider of medical marijuana.​

 

[G0d5hand]

http://www.cbc.ca/health/story/2008/10/27/marijuana-supply.html

thats from the cbc. today. the courts rejected the govt and claim it was a monopoly. They need to legalize it.

 

[basilfarmer]

the whole Harper government and their lap dog Liberal party should fall in a fucking hole.

George Bush should have shown the errors of right wing fascist redneck assholes; but OHHHHH NOOOO, now we have to relive bushes legacy in Canada with that fuckstick Harper.

The country has been hijacked by Alberta rednecks.

 

[Thiru Valluvar]

CBC story (thanks G5H):

Court rejects Ottawa's bid to uphold federal medical marijuana monopoly
Last Updated: Monday, October 27, 2008 | 3:27 PM ET
CBC News

The federal government's near-monopoly as the sole distributor of medical marijuana in Canada was severely weakened Monday by a Federal Court of Appeal decision in Toronto.

In a ruling that relaxes the government's grip on the distribution of the drug to sick patients, the court showed it was not swayed by Justice Department lawyers who argued that maintaining the monopoly is the only way to ensure a safe and reliable supply for those in need.

Removing restrictions that leave the government as the sole source would lead to an industry that could develop without safeguards, federal lawyer Sean Gaudet had told a three-judge panel earlier in the day.

Lawyer Alan Young, who represented medical marijuana users, said the decision is "good for the patients."

The government's failed application for review came after it won a stay of a January judgment that effectively ruled that medical marijuana users should have more freedom in picking their own grower.

In January's ruling, Federal Court Judge Barry Stayner struck down a restriction keeping growers other than the government from supplying the drug to more than one patient. Stayner's ruling was put on hold pending the outcome of Monday's hearing on the government's application to review his decision.

The case pitted a group of about 30 users of medical marijuana who tried unsuccessfully to obtain the drug from a small-scale supplier, Carasel Harvest Supply Corp., against Ottawa.

The patients had said the medical marijuana provided to them by the government wasn't of high enough quality to meet their medical needs.

The lawyers for the patients also argued the current laws make it difficult for seriously ill Canadians from obtaining the drug they needed to treat their debilitating illnesses.

But the January ruling that favoured patients was based on weak evidence showing the government's supply was inadequate, Gaudet said.
Restrictions 'arbitrary': judge

Currently, medical users can grow their own marijuana, but third-party growers can't supply the drug to more than one user at a time, a restriction that lawyers for the plaintiffs argued effectively gave Health Canada a monopoly on the distribution of medical marijuana.

Stayner said in his January ruling that the restrictions on the supply of medical marijuana were arbitrary and caused sick users major difficulty in gaining access to the drug.

"In my view it is not tenable for the government, consistently with the right established in other courts for qualified medical users to have reasonable access to marijuana, to force them either to buy from the government contractor, grow their own or be limited to the unnecessarily restrictive system of designated producers," he wrote.

The government has contracted one firm, Prairie Plant Systems Inc. in Flin Flon, Man., to provide the drug to patients.
With files from the Canadian Press​

 

[sweetsmell]

That is great news!

 

[White Rabbit]

If Canada gets this right, most of the thinking world might follow...
WR

 

[billy_big_bud!]

can anyone explain what this new ruling wil mean to us average folks? it sounds like it only helps people with and exemption. either way i am happy for those patients, they deserve quality medicine.

 

[sirgrassalot]

Ottawa's monopoly on pot over

Ottawa's monopoly on pot over

Ottawa's monopoly on pot over

Court dismisses federal appeal
By BRETT CLARKSON, SUN MEDIA

Alison Myrden, medicinal marijuana user who smokes 50 grams a day, lights up outside the Federal Court of Appeal, in Toronto, Monday, Oct. 27, 2008. (Sun Media/Brett Clarkson)

TORONTO -- Alison Myrden, who eats, drinks, and smokes 50 grams a day of medical pot, couldn't be happier that the federal government's marijuana monopoly has gone up in smoke.

Myrden, 44, was one of several medicinal marijuana users who yesterday watched as appeal court judges dismissed Ottawa's bid to keep the medical pot supply chain limited to one grower per smoker.

The controversial Health Canada one-grower-per-patient regulation was struck down in January by federal court Justice Barry Strayer, who ruled the restriction was unconstitutional.

Yesterday, federal lawyers Sean Gaudet and James Goreham mounted the government's appeal of Strayer's ruling. Because Strayer's ruling was under appeal, the Health Canada regulation was still in effect until yesterday's decision.

Gaudet and Goreham argued the one-to-one policy was required to ensure against the pot from licensed growers straying illicitly into the open market.

However, the three judges, John Maxwell Evans, Karen Sharlow, and C. Michael Ryers, didn't buy it. They dismissed the appeal after the lunch break, reducing the scheduled one-day hearing to a half-day.


And while the tight-lipped government lawyers -- who declined to comment -- started packing up, the pro-medicinal marijuana advocates cheered and congratulated lawyers Alan Young and Ron Marzel, who were representing 30 patients seeking the right to buy pot from a Smiths Falls grower called Carasel Harvest Supply Corp.

Yesterday's ruling means that licensed medical pot smokers are no longer restricted to getting their weed from a grower who only provides bud to them.

"We all want the same thing ultimately and that's our freedom. That's what it boils down to, the freedom to be able to do what we want without government intervention," Myrden said.

It also means that the much-maligned green grown in Manitoba by a federally contracted grower is no longer the only supplier who can provide weed to more than one person.

Myrden adamantly refuses to smoke the government-issue weed grown in Flin Flon by Prairie Plant Systems.

"I've tried it, it's garbage," said Myrden, a former corrections officer who smokes to combat symptoms of chronic progressive multiple scleroris. "It's absolutely disgusting, it's sticks and seeds and stems, I can't believe they'd make us smoke that as medicine."

Myrden, who also suffers from a rare facial condition she says causes "violent pains," has a government licence to grow her own. She consumes 50 grams a day by eating it, drinking it in tea, and smoking 30 joints.

Outside court yesterday, Young called on Health Canada to adopt more open-minded policies surrounding medicinal marijuana.

"It's time for Health Canada to recognize that medical marijuana is an established part of the regimen of a lot of patients," Young said. "Instead of thwarting patient needs, they should be accommodating patient needs. Hopefully this case will be a signal to them. Quite frankly, they've lost almost every round (in court)."

Ah the thread was moved & I missed the updates LoL

 

[Black Ra1n]

Has anyone tried this med pot from Prairie Plant Systems? This place has pharmaceutical company written all over it. You can actually apply for a job if you have a botany degree or equivalent, which I went to school for. Has any of these people grown cannabis before? Why not hire somebody who has actually grown before, take the science out of the equation. Seems when people try to fix the wheel they fuck it up, hence the reason why the first few crops were shit, and from what I've heard they still are. Sorry to be off topic but I just was checking out their website and it has me wondering how the hell these people got the contract... something seems off.

B/R