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Cannabis Campaigners' Guide News Database result:
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Canada: Ottawa Criticized Over Pot Raids
Daniel Leblanc Globe and Mail (Canada)
Thursday 12 Apr 2001 OTTAWA -- Ottawa was chastised yesterday for allowing police raids against growers of medicinal marijuana and for taking too much time to study requests from sick Canadians who say pot would ease their pain. The government is moving to offer people with specific illnesses controlled access to marijuana, but it was criticized by a Federal Court judge and a B.C. group for creating confusion in the meantime. Earlier this week, the RCMP raided a production facility in Richmond, B.C., that supplied marijuana to sick users. Police seized 2,200 plants, 10 boxes of mature bud and an M-16 rifle. The owner said he had a production permit, while the RCMP said he had only a research permit. Hilary Black of the B.C. Compassion Club Society said police should not be seizing marijuana destined for sick users. "Health Canada is accepting us as legitimate on one side, and police are persecuting us as illegal on the other," she said. Ms. Black said Ottawa should declare an amnesty until it has implemented a coherent system allowing ill Canadians to use marijuana. About 220 people have received an exemption to smoke marijuana legally for medical use, but she said that tens of thousands of others could benefit from the plant's powers. The drug is used to alleviate the symptoms of various illnesses, including muscle spasms, seizures, severe pain, nausea, weight loss and anorexia. In an Ottawa courtroom yesterday, Mr. Justice Paul Rouleau condemned a recent raid on a marijuana user. Robert Neron suffers from cervical dystonia, which gives him neck spasms and forces him to wear a brace to support his head. He said three doctors have approved his use of marijuana for medical purposes. Mr. Neron told the court that he made his initial application to Health Canada for a marijuana exemption on Jan. 8 and that police raided his home the next day. "I feel like a criminal. . . . A normal person shouldn't have to put himself in a situation like this," Mr. Neron said in court. Judge Rouleau said that such raids are unnecessary. "That should not happen." He also offered to step in to help speed up exemption applications with Health Canada. Judge Rouleau told Mr. Neron and another applicant, Johnny Dupuis, that while he could not grant them the exemption, they should give Health Minister Allan Rock a firm 30-day deadline to reply to their request. If Mr. Rock fails to do that, Judge Rouleau said, the two men could come back to court and he would compel the minister to respond. A Health Canada spokeswoman refused to comment on the court case until further review. (B.C. Compassion Club Society http://www.thecompassionclub.org/)
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