A Federal Court judge has turned down federal regulations restricting the rights of medical marijuana patients to cultivate their own marijuana and given the Liberal government six months to create new rules. Judge Michael Phelan ruled Wednesday in Vancouver that the Marijuana for Medical Purposes Regulations were an infringement on charter rights and ruled they have no force and effect. The judge also suspended his declaration for six months to give the federal government time to come up with new rules. The judge also ordered that an injunction will remain in effect, allowing thousands of Canadians with an authorization to use medical marijuana to continue to grow it at home. The judge was careful to point out that the ruling does not change other laws that make it illegal for Canadians to use marijuana recreationally.
” were declared to be unconstitutional and violate the charter rights of medical cannabis patients.
” Tousaw said it will now be up to the new Liberal government to come up with new rules.
“The ball is in the federal government’s court. Mr Trudeau and the justice minister have six months to respond to the court’s ruling and come up with a system of medical cannabis regulation in this country that doesn’t impact and negatively take away the charter rights of medical cannabis patients and their providers.” He believes the ruling will have implications for those who wish to grow their own pot for recreational use.
“We proved that growing medical cannabis can be perfectly safe, and can be done completely in compliance with the law and people ought to have a right to do that without fear of being arrested and locked in cages for that activity.” “The lessons I think are pretty obvious. If you can grow cannabis for yourself for medical purposes safely and with no risk to the public, surely, you can grow cannabis for yourself for non-medical purposes safely and with no risk to the public,” Tousaw said.
The federal Liberal government has committed to regulating and legalizing recreational marijuana but has yet to introduce any legislation. Homegrown supply The Marijuana for Medical Purposes Regulations were introduced by the Conservative government t in 2013 and required patients to buy cannabis from licensed producers instead of growing their own. The constitutional challenge was launched by Nanaimo, B.C., resident Neil Allard and three other British Columbia residents who argued that legislation introduced by the previous Conservative government violated their charter rights.
During the hearings, federal government lawyers argued that the regulations ensured patients have a supply of safe medical marijuana while protecting the public from the potential ills of grow-operations in patients’ homes. The lead counsel for the plaintiffs, John Conroy, told a court that the legislation has robbed patients of affordable access to medicine. Some people were left with no choice but to break the law, he argued, either by continuing to grow their own or by purchasing on the black market.
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