August 2, 2000

1:18 PM

Man, I love Ontario.Monday afternoon, an amazingly significant court trial ruled that possession of marijuana being criminal is unconstitutional, and that new laws need to be written.
posted by cCranium (9 comments total)

It's mostly geared towards allowing medicinal use, but, to quote directly from the article:

The ruling says that if the federal government doesn't put a new law on the books within 12 months, it will cease to be a crime to grow or smoke marijuana in Ontario.

posted by cCranium at 1:20 PM on August 2, 2000

And there are not one but two editorials in the Globe and Mail today calling for the decriminalization of pot.

Could be the best thing Canada ever did for its tourist industry if it happens...
posted by icathing at 1:32 PM on August 2, 2000

As much as I would love to see that happen, I'm not all that optimistic — I don't think the US would ever let us decriminilize in law (de facto decriminilization, at least in the case of possesion, has already happened in most of the country).Even the National Post wants (limited) decriminalization and I'd be a little surprised if the government decided to appeal; seems more likely that they'll amend with some wishy-washy language about exceptions for exceptional medical cases (get it?) and we'll be pretty much back where we started.As in the last election, whichever party has the guts to even mention the possibility of opening up a real dialogue will get my vote.
posted by sylloge at 1:46 PM on August 2, 2000

Yeah, I don't know what I've been smoking to have that happy fantasy. :-)

From what I understand, officially sanctioned medical marijuana will probably be much weaker than street pot - there's a decent explanation of what ottawa is doing here, which also describes what it's like for 57 canadians currently allowed to smoke pot:

"Meanwhile, those fifty-seven Canadians - exempt from possession and cultivation charges, but not from trafficking charges - are left to their own devices to procure their pot supply, creating a Kafkaesque legal scenario for all involved. Already, two of the fifty-seven, whose pot was being supplied by B.C.-based compassion clubs, have had their shipments seized en route by local authorities. Worse, once apprised of the patients' exemptions, the police still refused to hand over the shipments on the grounds that doing so would constitute trafficking on their part. The courts eventually ordered the police to surrender the goods. "

posted by icathing at 2:33 PM on August 2, 2000

On a related note, in the US, some polititians are also saying "Marijuana should be legal."
posted by endquote at 4:26 PM on August 2, 2000

And at the opposite end of the spectrum, some presidential hopefuls are saying that they want to "restrict access to drugs ... with application of the death penalty."
posted by kidsplateusa at 5:24 PM on August 2, 2000

99% of all the problems surrounding cannibis arise from the fact that is illegal! FREE THE WEED!!!!!!!!!!!
posted by Wedge at 9:57 PM on August 2, 2000

This quote is telling "As much as I would love to see that happen, I'm not all that optimistic — I don't think the USwould ever let us decriminilize in law"

A) They do nothing and it becomes legal.
B) They try to criminalize and have to admit it's because of the US.

Canadian nationalism should be getting very popular about now.
posted by valintin23 at 1:50 AM on August 3, 2000

Heh. I can't wait 'til the next Molson Canadian (makers of the near infamous 'The Rant' ad "My name is Joe, and I Am Canadian...") commercial.

"My name is Ross Ribligati, and I'm Moving to Ontario!"

posted by cCranium at 2:44 AM on August 3, 2000