MMAR, possession and production found unconstitutional in Ontario today!

[pho]

I've pretty much given up on MMAR for now. Fuck it. My doctor and all the fucking quacks turn me down, but they'll give me absolutely any other drug I could possibly ask for without blinking an eye.

Hopefully people wake up and sympathize. Dear lord, I really hope this time something good happens. I'm waiting for the government to find some sort of way to close this loop hole as soon as possible and made a swift appeal. Those fuckers always do.

/rant

 

[Moots]

This isn't a loophole. There isn't an easy fix. If they lose the appeal, they will have to not only revamp the MMAR in its entirety, but it would also have to "educate" doctors Nation wide, and establish some kind of rule that would not allow physicians to effectively boycott the medical Pot program.

This isn't just a case of "Ok we fixed some stuff, it should be good to go". This requires some massive leg work. This isn't the first Ontario judge to come to this decision, and a quickly thrown together patch isn't going to be acceptable to the Ontario Supreme Court.

For those of you not reading past the "Pot will be legal in 90 days" headlines, much of the concern for the Judge was that Physicians are not properly educated about the medicinal uses of Marijuana, and most physicians in Ontario just flat out refuse to sign forms, effectively boycotting a legal medicine. This causes patients to have to go to extreme lengths to become official, and forces many to the illegal market.

MMAR was created after a nearly identical ruling, forcing the government to form a safe federal medical program in 12 months, or the pot laws would be removed from the books. So don't expect some quick fix, or for this to get steam rolled.

My prediction, close to the 90 day mark we will see a major over haul, and "education" system for doctors. If not right before the 90 days, then shortly after. Or of course, if Harper wins a majority. Then he will just abolish the MMAR and re-criminalize.

Of course, we all know the real reason doctors don't want to sign forms. They don't want you using a herb that with their signature gets them zero kick backs. Pills=Bills for doctors.

 

[growshopfrank]

I think someone told the doctors that if they fill out MMRA forms their foreskins will grow back.

 

[Bud Bug]

Of course, we all know the real reason doctors don't want to sign forms. They don't want you using a herb that with their signature gets them zero kick backs. Pills=Bills for doctors.

They don't want to sign it because its not a real drug so they have no protection from the insurance company unless you sign/give them the "Relase Form For Medical Practitioners"

 

[teemu shalanie]

I hope this turns out fo the better , you would figure even if Harper gets Majority they would have to still make it easier to access , I for one have been turned down a few times to say the least , but am still trying to get signed up, total legalization would be nice but prob not happening........
TS

 

[fatigues]

The Crown will appeal this decision to the Court of Appeal for Ontario as of right and the decision will be stayed pending the relase of the Court of Appeal's decision. From there, it is virtually certain that one (or both) parties will seek leave to appeal the Court of Appeal's decision (one way or the other) to the Supreme Court of Canada.

This one will take a few years to sort out.

In the meanwhile, I'm not that optimistic that this is going to result in a substantive change. What we are likely to get is some platitudes by Health Canada aimed at doctors with little real change actually being effected.

As I have decribed in the past (see the link in my sig) doctors in Canada want nothing to do with the MMAR for the principal reason that they don't like being telephoned by the police "just to verify". It's been exceedingly clear that doctors want nothing to do with this for ten years.

But, slow down here. If we remove doctors from the solution, what we are left with is not medical marijuana, but medicinal marijuana. That may not seem like a big distinction to you -- but my guess is that the Court of Appeal for Ontario is going to think it is.

The courts in Canada from time to time demonstrate a deep and abiding tendency to engage in pragmatic judicial fictions when it suits their purpose to do so. My guess is that the courts will suggest a few changes to the program in terms of how it outreaches to doctors will be enough to "save" the legislation, at least until the changes are "given an opportunity to work themselves out" in the system.

In short, cosmetic changes will be implemented which will change very little in substance and in fact.

The alternative is that the courts permanently strike down all possesson and cultivation as offences under the CDSA, and leave trafficking as the only significant offence left under the CDSA in connection with "marihuana".

That's just not going to happen people.

While it would certainly be very convenient if either the Court of Appeal for Ontario or the Supreme Court of Canada were to finally resolve both marijuana and the pending prostitution Charter challenge by just sriking down the legislation and letting the threat of a free-for-all force the Government of Canada into making real and substantive changes... I don't see this happening when the Supremes finally get ahold of this.

It's one thing to say medical marijuana is necessary and to order it by judicial fiat. It's quite another thing to say that medical marijuana is necessary, even when only a few handfuls of doctors go on the record to express any agreement with that view at all.

If you are bound and determined to be optimistic about the results of this case, at least temper that optimism with a well-grounded sense of reality.

 

[vta]

Canadian Cannabis Laws Unconstitutional?

Canadian Cannabis Laws Unconstitutional?

We shall find out!


Source: Niagara This Week (CN ON)
Author: Mike Zettel, Staff

JUDGE SLAMS POT LAWS

Ruling Stems for St. Catharines Medical Marijuana User

Matthew Mernagh says he's on cloud nine now that a judge has ruled the marijuana laws he was charged with are unconstitutional.

The former St. Catharines activist and medical marijuana user was at the centre of an Ontaro Superiour Court case heard in St. Cathairnes in January, which stemmed from his arrest nearly three years ago for growing plants in his apartment downtown.

Reached Wednesday, a day after he first read the ruling in his Toronto lawyer's office, Mernagh said he's estatic and still getting over the shock.

"I was like 'Oh my God. I got everything I asked for from the court,'" he said.

He explained he had no intention of pleading guilty to produciton of marijuana.

"We decided we would go all the way," he said of he and lawyer Paul Lewin's decision to fight the charge on constitutional grounds.

Justice Donald Taliano ruled that the country's medical marijuana program is unconstitutional because doctors have for the most part refused to participate.

In his April 11 ruling, Taliano gave the government three months to repair the issue or face marijuana essentially being legalized.

Taliano found doctors have "massively boycotted" the program by not signing off on forms giving sick people access to necessary medication, meaning patients are resorting to illegal means.

In his ruling, he wrote that doctors' unwillingness to participate undermines the program's effectiveness.

"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."

The ruling covers more than medical marijuana, as Taliano also declared laws prohibiting possession and production of cannabis to be invalid.

The judge suspended the ruling for three months to give the federal government time to fix the program. If the issue isn't resolved, the law will be overturned.

Mernagh said they brought 21 witnesses to the stand, patients from B.C. to P.E.I. who testified they were rejected by doctors.

He said the case involving attending court once a month for two years, followed by four months of preparation everyday in his lawyer's office and 12 days of court.

It was worth it, he said.

"Our hard work has paid off," he said.

Mernagh said he'd like to hear the government say they'll work to fix the medical marijuana program, which he called a sham, but isn't holding his breath.

"I'm sure they're going to appeal," he said.

If the ruling stands up to appeal, the government faces the legitimate possiblity of marijuana being decriminalized.

Lawyer and longtime activist of marijuana legalization Alan Young told The Toronto Star that the government will be caught between a rock and hard place if the ruling is upheld.

"They don't have an alternative program in mind," he told The Star. "They don't have a plan B. They're in trouble."

Mernagh said that while he counts both medicinal and recreational users as friends, his main concern in this case is the medical marijuana program, and that he'd be perfectly happy if the issues surrounding it were resolved, allowing the marijuana law to stand.

Mernagh suffers from fibromyalgia, scoliosis, seizures and depression.

He was an early member of the Toronto Compassion Scoiety, which distributes medical marijuana, and founded a chapter in Niagara.

He also ran to represent the New Democrat Party for St. Catharines, but was not selected by the riding association.

He moved to Toronto shortly after he was arrest by Niagara Regional Police in 2008.

Wednesday has been a whirlwind day for Mernagh, as he's been interviewed by several media outlets.

He said he continues to marijuana for medicinal reasons, and even lit up for the cameras.

"I just smoked one," he said.

- -With files from Torstar News

 

[vta]

I had posted this in the Cannabis news section so more people would see it and it was merged here. Hopefully the word will spread.

I think even if this doesn't pan out, it creates conversation....and the truth is on our side!

 

[vta]

Source: Globe and Mail (Canada)


MARIJUANA SHOULD NOT BE CRIMINALIZED

It is hard to understand why Canada criminalizes marijuana. Make it illegal, sure - subject to a fine, as is wearing a face veil in France - - but where is the high degree of harm, to others or self, that requires criminal sanction, including jail?

The criminal law is not meant to be used where a finger wag might do.

On one level, an Ontario court ruling this week striking down Canada's marijuana laws was about medicinal users. The law was deemed unconstitutional because it obliges sick people to obtain a doctor's approval for use, a procedure that doctors have largely boycotted, on the advice of their provincial associations and their insurer. Rather than work with physicians to meet their concerns, Health Canada had absolved itself of responsibility.

But the question that is impossible to avoid in the thorough, well-reasoned ruling by Mr. Justice D.J. Taliano, of the Superior Court, is: Why criminalize?

The Ontario Court of Appeal has previously accepted that marijuana consumption is "relatively harmless," compared with hard drugs, tobacco or alcohol; that there is no hard evidence of irreversible organic or mental damage; that no evidence shows cannabis induces psychoses; that cannabis is not addictive; that marijuana use doesn't cause criminality, doesn't make people more aggressive or violent, and probably doesn't lead to hard drug use; that there have been no recorded deaths from marijuana consumption; that it does not cause a "motivational syndrome"; and that, where the drug is decriminalized, consumption doesn't increase wildly.

The constitutional issue is easy to understand. The state's marijuana ban aims to protect people from harm, yet the ban imposes harm on sick people. Judge Taliano heard from would-be medical users from across Canada that it was nearly impossible to find a doctor who would sign off on marijuana use. These would-be users included people with multiple sclerosis and HIV-AIDS. It is not as if the alternative, prescription opioids, is perfectly wonderful. Those drugs are involved in more overdose deaths in North America than cocaine or heroine.

The federal government has been given three months to fix the marijuana law for medicinal users or that law will fall by the wayside. Separately, the Conservatives want a mandatory minimum of six months in jail for people who grow six marijuana plants. How about a debate on the decriminalization of marijuana?

 

[Bonghitz]

I wish politicians would see the bigger picture instead of getting bogged down in details.

"Who knows," speculated Tousaw, "the government could always choose not to re-legislate, as did with the abortions laws after the Morgentaler decision, and finally put an end to the harms being caused by marijuana prohibition. "
*

...go Kirk Tousaw!

 

[BCNeil]

I've pretty much given up on MMAR for now. Fuck it. My doctor and all the fucking quacks turn me down, but they'll give me absolutely any other drug I could possibly ask for without blinking an eye.

Hopefully people wake up and sympathize. Dear lord, I really hope this time something good happens. I'm waiting for the government to find some sort of way to close this loop hole as soon as possible and made a swift appeal. Those fuckers always do.

/rant

I agree, I have a type 1 disease, and I cannot get an mmar card.
My specialist simply doesnt agree with it.
Considering it took 4 months to even get an appointment to see this guy, and begin traditional treatment that does help lots.
I dont want to piss him off, and get booted from his patients, as he has a huge waiting list.

I contacted that place in Kelowna that is suppose to be private, and whatnot, they still need the same specialist to fax them all my medical conditions, he refused to do this.

Much easier and cheaper to do things illegally unfortunately.
When you consider BC police have raided legal grows, probably safer to do things illegally as well.

Its a scam start to finish.

 

[Bud Bug]

I contacted that place in Kelowna that is suppose to be private, and whatnot, they still need the same specialist to fax them all my medical conditions, he refused to do this.

Does your family doctor have the info? Just ask your specialist to give you a copy of your diagnosis. I don't know the law but I can't see him being able to withhold that info from you or another doctor.

First thing would be to tell your doc or specialist that you are already using weed for your aliments, just so that's on your file.

 

[Bud Bug]

When you consider BC police have raided legal grows, probably safer to do things illegally as well.

Its a scam start to finish.

I'm pretty sure if they radided a medical place it was either a mistake or that person was already involved with something else and really how often do you hear of a medical place being raided. its rare and usually involves other circumstances.

 

[VagPuncher]

Fatigues rules

 

[VagPuncher]

MMAR cards are easy to get. Holla!

 

[pho]

MMAR cards are easy to get. Holla!

What's your story, bro? Category 1 or 2?

I'm at my wits end. Shit is driving me insane.

 

[Guest 150314]

Once you have 50 posts I can send you a private message with the name and info of a compassionate doctor
There is also a website who can set up a doctor consult with you over skype and get them signs formed... but I am not sure if it's a good idea to be posting there address publicly haha..

 

[VagPuncher]

What's your story, bro? Category 1 or 2?

I'm at my wits end. Shit is driving me insane.

I am as healthy as an ox.

 

[Bud Bug]

Once you have 50 posts I can send you a private message with the name and info of a compassionate doctor
There is also a website who can set up a doctor consult with you over skype and get them signs formed... but I am not sure if it's a good idea to be posting there address publicly haha..

The one in Kelowna is called Do No Harm Clinic http://donoharmclinic.com. I know people who had gotten them to sign the HC paper work and have received their licenses.

I know someone personally right now that is giving the Kelowna clinic a go. Will see how it works out. If not I have lead for another doctor that will sign the HC papers at no charge for paper work. Will try this doctor if the Kelowna clinc doesn't work out.

Also I hear there's someone in Mission that will sign the HC papers. I've been told its a $300 charge.

 

[OneTokeOver]

I agree, I have a type 1 disease, and I cannot get an mmar card.
My specialist simply doesnt agree with it.
Considering it took 4 months to even get an appointment to see this guy, and begin traditional treatment that does help lots.
I dont want to piss him off, and get booted from his patients, as he has a huge waiting list.

Its a scam start to finish.

Don't give up bro. With a type 1 you don't need a specialist, your family doc (or any doc) can sign. Keep at it, the more people in the program the better.