Ont. restaurateur may take medical marijuana feud to court
TORONTO - A Burlington Ont. restaurant owner facing a human rights complaint for refusing to allow a patron with a medical marijuana licence to smoke outside his establishment said he plans to take the dispute to court.

Ted Kindos, owner of Gator Ted’s Tap and Grill, said he will seek a declaration from the Ontario Superior Court that the provincial laws - prohibiting marijuana possession or consumption in licensed establishments - trump former patron Steve Gibson’s right to light up.

Gibson filed a complaint with the OHRC alleging Kindos discriminated against him by not allowing him to smoke his marijuana outside the bar and for making no effort to find any solution - such as smoking outside the back door.

The Ontario Human Rights Commission maintains Gibson’s case is about the bar owner’s duty to accommodate someone with a disability.

Osgoode Hall law professor Alan Young said the dispute is venturing into uncharted waters because there hasn’t been a court case addressing where Canadians with medical marijuana exemptions are allowed to smoke.

The federal government’s Marijuana Medical Access Regulations do not specify where marijuana can be consumed for medical purposes. But anyone who has an exemption is advised in an information package not to consume controlled substances in a public place and not to expose others to any effects related to the inhalation of secondary smoke, a spokesman for Health Canada said.

This is going to be an ongoing battle in the culture war.  We’ve seen the war on tobacco smoking escalate to the point where there are many places in the world where you cannot smoke indoors in any public building or even with 50′ of one.  Some places even bar tobacco smoke outdoors!

The smoking bans are predicated on the notion of harmful secondhand smoke.  Your rights to smoke tobacco end where my healthy cancer-free lungs begin.  But what of the secondhand smoke from cannabis?

We know that cannabis smoke inhaled firsthand does not lead to increased incidence of head, neck, or lung cancers, and that, in fact, the THC in inhaled cannabis smoke may have protective anti-tumoral effects.  But the secondhand cannabis smoke would presumably be free from most of that THC.  Would it then be as harmful as secondhand cigarette smoke?

The other side of the issue is that, unlike cigarette smoking, we’re talking about delivery of a medicine that enables disabled people to live more normal lives.  You have your rights, but you must make reasonable accommodation for the disabled so they may enjoy their rights.

What is the fair solution?  Should restaurant customers be forced to put up with cannabis smoke, or should disabled people be forced to suffer needlessly if they wish to dine out?

(If you ask me, the restaurant owner is a fool to fight cannabis smoking on his patio.  What could be better for appetizer sales than bar customers with a secondhand contact high and a case of the munchies?)

Just catching up on some of the reports from the March this weekend:

Close to 500 protesters took to the streets [of Calgary, Alberta, Canada] Saturday in favour of marijuana’s medicinal use and making it more accessible to those suffering debilitating pain.

Amid the incense aromas and reggae beats, several hundred Austinites rallied at the Capitol on Saturday for the legalization of marijuana for personal and medical use.

Rolling out at high noon May 3, the Ninth Annual Million Marijuana March smoked through downtown Portland as part of Oregon NORML’s protest of pot prohibition and to support the use of medicinal marijuana through Oregon’s sometimes controversial Medical Marijuana Act.

“These guys are easy compared to the anarchists,” said Sgt. Voepel of the Portland Police Department, “they’re on time, and they’re orderly.”

According to the Sarge, the only rabble rousers during the march were two drunkards who were pestering people but were unconnected to the peaceful pro-pot gatherers. No pot smokers were spotted.

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