Page 14 March 16, 2009

PROVINCIAL/ NATIONAL

PANTHER POST

B.C. court makes med marijuana more legal

By Andrew Farris - The Martlet (University of Victoria)

VICTORIA (CUP) — The quasi-legal status of Victo- ria’s compassion clubs may have come a step closer to resolution this week after a B.C. Supreme Court ruling declared parts of Canada’s current medicinal marijuana laws unconstitutional.

The law, which forbids any supplier from distributing medical marijuana to more than one patient, has forced the non-profit clubs into op- erating illegally, despite the consent of Victoria’s police.

The judge has given Health Canada one year to review the laws and make it easier for purveyors of medicinal marijuana, both inside and outside the law, to keep pa- tients supplied.

The verdict comes as a huge victory, especially for Mat Beren of the Vancouver Island Compassion Society. Beren was caught tending the VICS’ grow-op in Sooke when police raided the facil- ity in 2004 and confiscated 900 plants.

Although Beren was found guilty of growing and traf- ficking an illegal substance,

the prosecution’s demands for a stiff sentence were thrown out.

Instead, the judge complete- ly discharged the conviction, meaning that there will be no penalty or criminal re- cord because Beren had been growing the cannabis for the club.

This ruling brings into light the legal limbo in which many organizations such as VICS operate. The Supreme Court of Canada has ruled that marijuana, which is ef- fective for easing the suf- fering of those with chronic conditions, is a constitution- al medicine and the govern- ment has a responsibility to provide it to those with a doctor’s prescription.

Beren’s defence made the case that the marijuana pro- vided by the federal govern- ment, grown in a Manitoba mineshaft, was of poor qual- ity and obtaming it meant jumping over “unnecessary bureaucratic delays or ob- stacles.”

Philippe Lucas, the direc- tor of VICS, also points out that the federal application process can take weeks or months, time which can be ill-afforded by those who are in enough pain to warrant a medicinal marijuana pre-

the Martlet scription.

It was because of these regu- latory hurdles and the inade- quacy of the federal marijua- na that the compassion clubs were able to spring into ex- istence — VICS serves more than 850 doctor-referred pa- tients on Vancouver Island. Justice Marvyn Koenigsberg ruled in Beren’s case that while compassion clubs “en- hanced other people’s lives at minimal or no risk to so- ciety,” they “did so outside any legal framework.”

The onus to reform the le- gal framework lies not with the compassion clubs, which

Ted Smith shows off his product grown for the Cannabis Buyers Club. Josh Thomson/

operate “openly, and with reasonable safeguards,” but with Health Canada and the Canadian College of Phy- sicians who failed to make medicinal marijuana suffi- ciently available for chronic sufferers, said Koenigsberg. Other compassion asso- ciations, like the Cannabis Buyers Club, a corollary of UVic’s own Hempology 101 Society, have greeted

the likely review of the laws

surrounding clubs with en- thusiasm.

The Cannabis Buyers Club has undergone six police raids on their headquarters

in downtown Victoria, and the operators have spent sev- eral nights in jail, with the charges overturned by courts each time.

Kristen Mann, Cannabis Buyers Club spokesperson, — says she’ll welcome what a review could mean for the club, but notes that the sys- tem still needs many chang- es. .

“Although we have been accepted by the Victoria Po- lice and the B.C. courts, on a federal level, we are still considered to be distributors of marijuana, which is ille- gal,” Mann said.

York president calls for peace after wave of protests

By David Ros - Excalibur (York University)

TORONTO (CUP) — York Univer- sity president Mamdouh Shoukri has asked student groups to put aside their differences after a wave of stu-

dent protests littered the campus. “After a long period away from the classroom and with exams fast ap- proaching, our 50,000. students re- ally need to be able to focus on their academic lives,” Shoukri said in a Feb. 19 press release. “Unfortunately, the return to class

has’ been marked by student lead- ers in open hostility towards other student groups and mounting dem- onstrations which have led to the disruption of classes for many stu- dents.”

After returning from an 80-day part- time faculty strike that kept students

out of classes, Toronto’s York Uni- versity has been plagued with racial tensions and student union drama.

A group of students led by the pro- Israel group Hillel at York has been calling for the impeachment of the York Federation of Students for mis- handling the strike.