Ottawa Appealing Pot Possession Verdict

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Ottawa is appealing a ruling that found Canada's marijuana-possession laws are no longer valid. In a notice filed Friday, the Crown says it will try to show an Ontario judge erred when he concluded that a 16-year-old broke no laws when he was caught carrying five grams of marijuana this spring.

 

"Because the decision created so much public interest, we thought it best to quickly deal with the issue and clarify the law as quickly as we can," said Jim Leising, director of the Justice Department's prosecution service in Ontario.

 

He announced the decision to appeal yesterday, one day after Judge Douglas Phillips in Windsor dismissed possession charges against the teen.

 

Judge Phillips agreed with the defence lawyer that a previous court decision rendered federal laws against marijuana possession invalid.

 

An appeal is a matter of some urgency for the Justice Department. As things stand, the validity of a marijuana law which many people are accused of breaking is an open question.

 

Brian McAllister, the teenager's lawyer, says the case he won on Thursday leaves Ontario's legal system in a quandary.

 

"I don't see why any judge would want to hear any other cases involving the issue until this appeal has been adjudicated," Mr. McAllister said in an interview yesterday.

 

The appeal will hang upon the finer points of the law. Both the Justice Department and Mr. McAllister can use the legal arguments from the initial hearing.

 

A judge in the Ontario Superior Court in Windsor will hear the appeal, likely within a few weeks. No date has been set.

 

The confusion created by the teenager's case has its roots in a ruling made two years ago.

 

In July, 2000, an Ontario Court of Appeal judge ruled that Canada's marijuana-possession laws are unconstitutional because they don't allow chronically sick people access to a substance that could control their suffering.

 

Though the ruling in effect struck down the possession law, the judge explicitly delayed its effect for one year. The hope was that Ottawa could come up with a more compassionate scheme in the interim.

 

The federal cabinet responded by putting new regulations in place. But the new rules may not be sufficient.

 

The judge in the teenager's case ruled this week that the appeal court had called for nothing less than new laws passed by Parliament, and that regulations issued by the federal cabinet didn't carry enough weight.

 

Judge Phillips ruled that because the underlying constitutional issue was never properly addressed, the possession laws remained invalid regardless whether the person caught with cannabis was using it for medicinal or recreational purposes.

 

Source: Globe and Mail (Canada)