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Cannabis Campaigners' Guide News Database result:
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CN BC: Judge Makes B.C. History With Pot Ruling
ccguide Tuesday 16 Sep 2003 Pubdate: Tue, 16 Sep 2003 Source: Province, The (CN BC) Copyright: 2003 The Province Contact: Website: http://www.canada.com/vancouver/theprovince/ Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/476 Author: Andy Ivens, The Province JUDGE MAKES B.C. HISTORY WITH POT RULING Simple possession of marijuana is no longer illegal in B.C., a provincial court judge has ruled. The decision by Judge Patrick Chen in the Crown's case against Kurtis Lee Masse makes B.C. the fourth province, along with Ontario, Prince Edward Island and Nova Scotia, in which the law has been struck down. Courts in Alberta and Saskatchewan have ruled the other way. The confusion around the state of the law arose after an Ontario Appeal Court judge struck down the law in July 2000 and gave Parliament one year to pass a new one. That has yet to happen. Three high-profile possession cases have been appealed to the Supreme Court of Canada. Once the high court makes its ruling, that will be the law of the land. But for now, any judge of the B.C. provincial court would be bound by Chen's decision, Masse's lawyer Troy Anderson said yesterday. "I've been receiving e-mails throughout the day from people who are pretty happy with this decision," he added. "It's potentially a very important case. Anderson stressed the ruling does not affect the law against possession for the purposes of trafficking or other more serious crimes -- just simple possession. "This is a great victory for advocates of freedom and personal responsibility," said Kirk Tousaw, policy director of the B.C. Civil Liberties Association. "Prohibiting cannabis possession is irrational. It's a relatively harmless plant . . ." Chen's Sept. 4 ruling, released yesterday, is not binding on B.C. Supreme Court judges. If the Crown appealed Chen's ruling, a Supreme Court judge could overturn his decision. - --- MAP posted-by: Richard Lake
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