Let them smoke pot
Source: The Salut Star, 10/09/03

Editorials - Tuesday's Ontario Court of Appeal ruling on marijuana should spur authorities to find ways of providing the drug to medicinal users, but let's hope it doesn't provoke a police frenzy of rounding up recreational users for possession.

While the courts and Parliament have moved slowly to permit pot to relieve suffering of patients with such maladies as AIDS, cancer and multiple sclerosis, the supply has been woeful because of government-imposed restrictions.

The result was more suffering for patients as the system laboriously dithered. Even when they did finally get a meagre supply, some medicinal users rejected the government-sanctioned weed and went back to black market sources because of quality issues.

Now, the appeal court has removed idiotic federal Marijuana Medical Access Regulations that restricted compensation for growers, growing marijuana for more than one patient and pooling resources with other licensed producers.

It agreed with an earlier Ontario court ruling that Canada's marijuana laws were unconstitutional because they forced participants to either grow their own or buy it on the black market.

In addition to injecting some logic into Ottawa's stance on making medicinal marijuana available, perhaps this week's ruling will affect other substances - heroin, for example.

The powerful narcotic has been legal for relieving the gross suffering of palliative care patients such as those dying of cancer, but champions including Dr. Ken Walker (who writes a weekly syndicated column carried in The Sault Star under the name Dr. Gifford Jones) have long complained that heroin is not readily available for patients.

Anyone who has ever watched a cancer patient suffer under the influence of weaker drugs and wondered about the difference heroin might make will share Walker's passion to shake some sense into the medical world on this topic. We can only hope that the marijuana debate will help.

With its fine-tuning of marijuana availability, the appeal court reinstated the law against simple possession. Police seem to be treading cautiously rather than going on a full-bore crusade against recreational users, however, and that's good.

Since the possession law was ruled unconstitutional in January, there have been some childish antics as tokers lit up in parks and in front of police stations to chide authorities. But the world has not turned upside-down during that period.

There is really no reason for police to waste their time and resources pursuing people for simple possession - there are much worse things that demand police attention.

Besides, the Supreme Court of Canada is expected to rule this fall on a different case involving marijuana possession, and Parliament is pondering legislation to soften penalties. There's no need to tie up police or the courts in a rush to prosecute tokers when the rules could change so soon.

That being said, in the meantime police should apply the current law consistently and lay charges when they come across abusers in public. That might at least stop the silly and provocative demonstrations.