>Sender: >To: >X-Original-Message-ID: <18be01bf118d$30314720$9acf69cf@pacbell.net> >From: "Peter McWilliams" >Subject: Canadian Clear Thinking >Date: Fri, 8 Oct 1999 06:01:08 -0700 >X-Mozilla-Status: 8001 >X-Mozilla-Status2: 00000000 > > >Pubdate: Thu, 07 Oct 1999 >Source: National Post (Canada) >Copyright: 1999 Southam Inc. >Contact: letters@nationalpost.com >FAX: (416) 442-2209 >Mail: 300 - 1450 Don Mills Road, Don Mills, Ontario M3B 3R5 >Website: http://www.nationalpost.com/ >Forum: http://forums.canada.com/~canada >Author: Luiza Chwialkowska > >LAWYERS ARGUE TO LEGALIZE MARIJUANA > >TORONTO -- In a constitutional challenge to Parliament's right to legislate >marijuana, the Appeal Court of Ontario was asked yesterday to strike down >laws that make consumption of the drug criminal. > >Lawyers for Christopher Clay, a store owner convicted in 1997 of selling a >small cannabis plant to an undercover officer in London, Ont., are asking >the court to strike down Canada's marijuana laws because there exists scant >scientific evidence of medical or sociological harm associated with the >drug. Parliament does not have the authority to criminalize a recreational >activity that has not been proven to be harmful, said lawyers for Mr. Clay, >who engaged in what they call the widest review of the scientific >literature concerning marijuana consumption since a Royal Commission tabled >a four-year report on the subject in 1972. > >"Empirical data demonstrate that Parliament did not have a reasonable basis >to create this offense," Alan Young, professor at Osgoode Hall told the >court. Pulmonary irritation associated with ingesting smoke is the only >proven harmful effect of the drug, he said. > >"They've created a law to prevent Canadians from becoming a nation of >wheezers and coughers. That can't be the intent of criminal law," he said. > >Although the decision of Ontario's highest court is only binding in that >province, a victory would influence marijuana cases across the country. > >Justice J.F. McCart, the lower court judge who convicted Mr. Clay, ruled >that "consumption of marijuana is relatively harmless compared to the >so-called hard drugs and including tobacco and alcohol." While scientists >hypothesize that marijuana use could lead to permanent brain damage, >psychosis, reduced immunity, and dangerous driving, Prof. Young said "the >state, not the citizen," should bear that burden of proof. Until the >harmful effects can be proven, he says marijuana laws deprive Canadians of >their rights to life, liberty and security of the person under the Canadian >Charter of Rights and Freedoms. He likened the ban on marijuana to the ban >on margarine, which the Supreme Court overturned 50 years ago. > >Government lawyers maintain that it is up to the legislature to determine >what "evil it wishes to suppress, and what threatened interest it wishes to >safeguard." > >The same three-judge panel will also hear an appeal from government lawyers >in the case of Terry Parker, a Toronto epileptic who in 1997 became the >first Canadian to win a court-ordered permit to use marijuana for the >medicinal purpose of controlling his seizures. The Crown is asking that >Parker be required to apply directly to Allan Rock, the Health Minister, >for permission to use the drug. > >~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ >Pubdate: Thur, 07 Oct 1999 >Source: London Free Press (Canada) >Copyright: 1999 The London Free Press a division of Sun Media Corporation. >Contact: letters@lfpress.com >Website: http://www.canoe.ca/LondonFreePress/home.html >Forum: http://www.lfpress.com/londoncalling/SelectForum.asp >Author: Hollie Shaw > >POT OFTEN LESS TOXIC THAN FOOD, COURT TOLD > >(Toronto) -- Pot is safer than many of the foods people eat, and it >shouldn't be a crime to use it, Ontario's top court was told yesterday. > >"You can kill lab rats with sugar -- you can't kill them with >marijuana," lawyer Alan Young told the three-judge panel of the >Ontario Court of Appeal. > >Young made the points during a constitutional challenge of Canada's >marijuana law on behalf of Chris Clay, who was convicted in London in >1997 of selling a cannabis plant to an undercover officer, and Terry >Parker, who suffers from epilepsy. > >"Parliament does not have the constitutional authority to criminalize >relatively harmless conduct," Young said outside court. > >"The British North America Act doesn't give them the power and the >Charter of Rights prevents them from acting in an arbitrary way." > >Marijuana isn't highly addictive or toxic, isn't a "gateway" to using >harder drugs; it doesn't cause crime, violent behaviour or psychosis, >or cause people to lose their motivation -- that much the Crown >conceded in the lower court case, Young told the judges. > >In fact, Crown and defence lawyers agreed at Clay's trial before >Justice John McCart of Ontario's Superior Court that occasional, >moderate use of the drug is harmless. > >"And unless Parliament has a reasonable apprehension of harm, they >can't interfere in one's autonomous decision to use marijuana," Young >said. > >Young said Canada's current pot law is antiquated -- its first >incarnation appeared in 1928 -- and was born, in the words of McCart, >"in an atmosphere of irrational fear." > >Chronic dope smoking can lead to bronchitis, Young said, but only one >per cent of the drug's users smoke it heavily. The other 99 per cent >are therefore vulnerable to the stigma of criminal charges, Young >said, which has no social benefit. > >He noted that by 1997, 600,000 Canadians had been saddled with >criminal records for marijuana-related offences. > >Although McCart agreed pot wasn't particularly harmful, he ruled it >was up to Parliament to decriminalize the drug, not the courts. > >Young said the government has been reluctant to act, despite promises >made after a Royal Commission on pot urged Ottawa to study the drug. > >While Young said the government has done virtually nothing since then, >Health Minister Allan Rock announced researchers will go ahead with >clinical trials of medicinal marijuana. > >Young wants the appeal court to strike down the possession offence, >eliminate imprisonment as a punishment or suspend the law. > >There is also no proof that removing criminal sanctions encourages >use, he argued. > >In Holland, only 5.4 per cent of Dutch teens use the drug even though >it has been decriminalized, he said. In Canada, about 22 per cent of >teens smoke pot. > >~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ >Pubdate: Thu, 07 Oct 1999 >Source: Toronto Star (Canada) >Copyright: 1999, The Toronto Star >Contact: lettertoed@thestar.com >Website: http://www.thestar.com/ >Page: A8 >Author: Tracey Tyler, Toronto Star Legal Affairs Reporter > >MARIJUANA HYSTERIA NOT JUSTIFIED, COURT TOLD > >Activist, Epileptic Challenge Laws > >More than 600,000 Canadians have criminal records for possession of >marijuana but Ottawa has no valid basis for making it a crime, >Ontario's highest court has been told. > >Parliament outlawed pot amid hysteria over the drug in 1923, but the >last 76 years have shown its harm is minimal, law professor Alan Young >told the Ontario Court of Appeal yesterday. > >At one time in Canada, margarine was considered harmful and possessing >it was also a crime, Young noted. > >``I'm not standing in this court today asserting marijuana is >harmless, perfectly harmless,'' he said. ``I couldn't say that about >anything - studies show thousands of Americans injure themselves every >year standing at their kitchen sink.'' > >People can die from drinking too much water, Young added. ``You can >kill lab rats with sugar,'' he said. ``You can't kill them with >marijuana.'' > >Young, a professor at Osgoode Hall law school, represents legal >activist Christopher Clay, 28, who, along with Toronto epileptic Terry >Parker, 44, are at the centre of a pivotal court battle to reform >Canada's marijuana laws. > >Clay is appealing convictions for possession and trafficking. In >Parker's case, the federal government is appealing a Scarborough >judge's 1997 decision to stay charges against him for growing and >using marijuana to control his seizures, ordering that his seized >cannabis plants be returned. > >The appeals have landed in court amid what some regard as increasing >inconsistency in Ottawa's stance on the use of marijuana. On one hand, >Health Minister Allan Rock is promising clinical trials and just this >week announced exemptions to allow 14 seriously ill people to use it. >At the same time, the federal justice department is fighting to uphold >Clay's conviction and to overturn Parker's stay, as well as the >broader issues in the appeals. > > >================================================================ > >This message is sent to you because you are subscribed to > the mailing list . >To unsubscribe, E-mail to: --------------------------------------------------------------------------------