bccla

By. BC Civil Liberties Association

 

Today the British Columbia Civil Liberties Association is making a submission to Health Canada calling for medical marijuana pharmacies (compassion clubs) to be sanctioned under the Medical Marijuana Access Regulations. Last month, the BCCLA denounced what appeared to be a national campaign by law enforcement officials to shut down medical cannabis pharmacies across Canada. Compassion clubs are not currently provided for in the regulations, which only allow a licensed grower to cultivate medical marijuana for a maximum of two people.

 

Micheal Vonn, BCCLA Policy Director: “Medical marijuana is not plutonium. Society meets reasonable standards of safely dispensing many medications that have a street value and medical marijuana pharmacies are an obvious and proven model of effective patient access. For far too long the overly restrictive regulation of medical marijuana has violated patients’ rights. All previous versions of the highly restrictive regulations have been found unconstitutional by the courts and the recently amended regulations still deny patients genuine access to needed medications.” Read more »

By. BC Civil Liberties Association

 

Quebec police shut down three medical cannabis dispensaries, also known as “compassion clubs” today, arresting all staff on site for trafficking. The Quebec closures follow a raid on a compassion club in Nunavut in February, in Toronto at the end of March, and in Guelph in May.

 

“These national raids have now sent thousands of Canadians to purchase their medicine on the street,” said Micheal Vonn, Policy Director of the B.C. Civil Liberties Association. “The police by these actions have enriched organize crime, encouraged associated criminal activity, and shut down non-profit organizations dedicated to improving people’s health and wellness. By any standard these raids make no sense at all.”

 

Compassion clubs have a rigorous approval process for cannabis sales, selling only to those with prescriptions from doctors or letters from physicians confirming chronic conditions that have been demonstrated to benefit from treatment with cannabis, and calling to confirm the authenticity of all documents with issuing physicians. The closed clubs were all at varying stages of actively seeking formal status with Health Canada. Read more »

By Ian Mulgrew, Vancouver Sun

 

British common law has long held “the house of everyone is to him as his castle and fortress” and the B.C. Court of Appeal says that principle still holds.

 

Stamping out marijuana grow operations might be a laudable societal goal, but in a unanimous ruling the court said constitutional protections against unreasonable search and seizure must nevertheless be respected.

 

The five-judge panel concluded the government should amend the 2004 Safety Standards Act because people have a high expectation of privacy in their homes.

 

Chief Justice Lance Finch, who penned the decision, said two sections of the law — authorizing the warrantless entry and inspection of homes to combat the electrical dangers posed by marijuana grow operations — violated the Charter of Rights and Freedoms.

 

Still, the ruling looks like a lot of smoke and mirrors — it only adds an extra step in a pernicious inspection process required as a result of the expensive failed criminal prohibition against pot.

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