Federal medical pot appeal up in smoke
TORONTO – The federal government lost a court appeal Monday, paving the way for an end to its monopoly supplying medical marijuana to patients.Justice Department lawyers had sought to appeal a lower-court ruling that granted licensed producers the right to grow marijuana for more than one patient.
But the three-judge panel said it was not persuaded by government lawyers who argued that allowing a grower to supply more than one patient would lead to an unregulated industry.
In January, a federal court judge struck down the one-to-one ratio as unconstitutional and unnecessarily restrictive.
The ruling was stayed pending Monday’s appeal.
Lawyer Alan Young, who represented medical marijuana users, said the ruling was a victory for “sick people.”
“It’s time for Health Canada to recognize that medical marijuana is an established part of the regiment for a lot of patients,” Young said outside court. “Instead of thwarting patient needs, they should be accommodating patient needs and hopefully this case will be a signal to them.”
Authorized users who cannot grow their own marijuana can designate a grower or access government-issued marijuana supplied by Prairie Plant Systems in Manitoba.
But a group of 30 patients who challenged the regulations argued the government supply was weak and they should have the right to choose their source.
They were lobbying to be lawfully able to purchase marijuana from Carasel Harvest Supply Corp., which, under the current regime, was not allowed to supply more than one patient with medical marijuana.
This ruling should make it easier for Canadian medical marijuana patients to acquire decent medicine and not be subject to the poor quality cannabis grown in the abandoned zinc and copper mine in Flin Flon, Manitoba. We can hope the competition from private suppliers would force Canada to upgrade its federal marijuana supply to quality levels required by most patients.
