Medical marijuana patients will currently be allowed to consume cannabis and not just smoke it as well as use different cannabis extracts and derivatives, the Supreme Court of Canada ruled earlier this month.
The unanimous decision against the federal government expands the definition of medical cannabis beyond the “dried” form. The country’s highest court discovered the current restriction to dried cannabis violates the rights to liberty and security “in a manner that is arbitrary and hence is not in accord with the principles of fundamental justice.”
Restricting medical access to cannabis to a dried form has currently been declared “null and void” Sections 4 and 5 of the Controlled Drug and Substances Act, which does not allow possession and trafficking of non-dried forms of marijuana, will no longer be in effect.
The respondent, in this case, Owen Smith, said it was “a very emotional day.”
“I’m proud and really happy today for all those people who are going to benefit from this ruling,” he stated at a press conference in Victoria, B.C.
The result upholds the prior decision by lower courts in British Columbia that stated they went against a person’s right to consume medical cannabis in the form they like.
Various users felt smoking marijuana was potentially harmful. Yet, ways such as brewing cannabis leaves in tea or baking marijuana into edibles left patients vulnerable to being charged with possession and trafficking under the law.
In reference to evidence submitted to the trial judge, it boiled down to forcing a person to select between a legal but not efficient treatment, and an illegal but more effective option.
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