|
Cannabis Campaigners' Guide News Database result:
|
|
Canada: Pot Crusader Courts Change To Drug Law
ccguide Wednesday 07 May 2003 Pubdate: Wed, 07 May 2003 Source: Ottawa Sun (CN ON) Copyright: 2003, Canoe Limited Partnership Contact: Website: http://www.fyiottawa.com/ottsun.shtml Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/329 Author: Canadian Press Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/mjcn.htm (Cannabis - Canada) Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/decrim.htm (Decrim/Legalization) POT CRUSADER COURTS CHANGE TO DRUG LAW David Malmo-Levine, fortified by a quick toke of hash and dressed from head to toe in clothing woven of hemp, took his crusade against federal marijuana laws to the Supreme Court of Canada yesterday. The 31-year-old Vancouver man, one of three people appealing convictions for breaking pot laws, couched his argument simply as he addressed the nine poker-faced judges. Nobody should be incarcerated, he said, for exercising a "right to relaxation and well-being" that doesn't harm anybody else. "We should not let anyone in this country point their finger, yell 'criminal,' and then lock up thousands of people. This court must protect human autonomy, which is in essence the right to pick and choose our own tastes, our own pleasures." BUBBLE HASH During a break in the hearing, he said he'd taken some unusual steps to prepare for court. "I took a couple of hits off some bubble hash," he said. "I was happy, hungry and relaxed, but I was not impaired." Malmo-Levine wants the court to strike down all criminal sanctions against marijuana, including penalties for growers and traffickers. Lawyers for the others involved in the case framed the question more narrowly, concentrating on whether people convicted of simple possession should face jail time and a criminal record. "I don't mean to stand here and suggest there is a constitutional right to smoke marijuana," said Toronto lawyer Paul Burstein, who added that the government has been overstepping its legal authority for the last 80 years by keeping a law on the books that provides for jail terms in simple possession cases. The court reserved judgment and will take months to deliver its ruling. - --- MAP posted-by: Terry Liittschwager
After you have finished reading this article you can click here to go back.
|
This page was created by the Cannabis Campaigners' Guide.
Feel free to link to this page!