Toronto activist Matt Mernagh is calling the medical marijuana program a “disaster.”
“In my trial, the judge concluded that less than one per cent of doctors are signing the application,” said Mernagh, who had been involved in a three-year legal battle against charges of possessing and growing cannabis to self-medicate. “Most of them don’t even know (the program) exists.”
To qualify for a licence, patients must obtain a signed declaration from a doctor and/or specialist, depending on the severity of illness.
While Mernagh says doctors are not necessarily opposed to the program, from his experience, most of them were not aware it existed until he brought it up. Read more »
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
June 22, 2011
Beyond Prohibition Foundation: Needless Health Canada delays cause patient suffering
Medical marijuana activists were at the Ontario Court of Appeal today over a motion by the federal government to delay the effects of a previous decision which legalized marijuana in Canada. The case, known as R. v. Mernagh made headlines two months ago when the Ontario Superior Court declared not only the medical marijuana program unconstitutional, but the prohibitions on production and possession of marijuana as well. The Ontario Superior Court initially gave Health Canada 90 days to make changes.
“Despite 10 years of delays and bad faith, Health Canada today was granted yet more time to reform their marijuana medicinal access regulations” said Kirk Tousaw, Executive Director of the Beyond Prohibition Foundation. “The government was given 90 days to reform the program, and they have yet to make a single change. The changes they have proposed do little to address the concerns of the Ontario Superior Court. The Beyond Prohibition Foundation is calling on the federal government to abide by court orders and meaningfully expand access to this vital program” Read more »
On Wednesday June 22 prosecutors will seek to delay the 90 day marijuana legalization ruling via an interoloctory hearing at Ontario Court of Appeal (130 Queen St. West) 10 a.m. The deadline stoppage would last until court of appeal has rendered its decision. This is not the appeal of R v. Mernagh, but a hearing specifically for deadline stoppage.
Recent announcements regarding proposed changes to Canada’s medical marijuana program do not solve the problems uncovered in R v. Mernagh. Under the proposed changes doctors would remain gatekeepers. The core issue Ontario Superior Court justice D.J. Taliano found to be unconstitutional. Health Canada needs to address this specific problem. Not with an application change, but with changing who is manning the gates to legal medical marijuana. Read more »
The Government of Canada will appeal an Ontario court's ruling that struck down the country's marijuana laws as unconstitutional.
Matt Mernagh, the med-pot user at the center of a historic court battle over the country's medical marijuana laws, says he has been served his notice of appeal in the case.
"I received a phone call from the Crown prosecutor today," Mernagh told Cannabis Culture earlier this afternoon. "He offered his congratulations on the case and told me to get ready for the appeal."
Mernagh was served with the appeal shortly afterward. Read more »
Today in R v. Mernagh the Ontario Superior Court of Justice found the entire regulatory scheme governing medical marijuana (the Marihuana Medical Access Regulations) to be invalid. As a result sections 4 (prohibiting possession) and 7 (prohibiting production) of the Controlled Drugs and Substances Act were stricken. The government has been given 90 days to fill the legislative void or it will become legal to possess and produce marijuana.
The basis for the decision was that the government's controversial decision making allopathic physicians the only gatekeepers to patient access created a scheme that was too restrictive and made it too difficult for Canadians to lawfully acquire the medicine. In the Court's words "...it is long past time for the government to provide the medical access to marihuana that was directed by the Parker court over ten years ago..." Parker was a 2000 decision of the Ontario Court of Appeal that gave rise to the MMAR scheme. Read more »
After four months of prep, tomorrow, Monday, Jan. 17, the team of lawyer Paul Lewin and cannabis celebrity Matt Mernagh will present their argument Health Canada's medicinal marijuana program is an illusion for the majority of Canadians trying to access it.
The trial commences at 10 a.m. at St. Catharines ON courthouse and is scheduled for three weeks. Mernagh was charged with growing cannabis for personal consumption in The Garden City and again three months later when he moved to Toronto. Charges he doesn't deny. His Toronto charges were withdrawn, but for some reason the St. Catharines charge remained. Lewin will argue Mernagh had no choice but to grow his own marijuana to treat his medical condition. Their case will highlight plenty wrong with Health Canada's medicinal marijuana program and shortage of family physicians in parts of Ontario. Read more »
Welcome to WhyProhibition.ca. We are working to repeal the prohibition of cannabis by organizing and educating the public. Sign up to get activism alerts, and access to organizing tools.
Toronto activist Matt Mernagh is calling the medical marijuana program a “disaster.”
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
On Wednesday June 22 prosecutors will seek to delay the 90 day marijuana legalization ruling via an interoloctory hearing at Ontario Court of Appeal (130 Queen St. West) 10 a.m. The deadline stoppage would last until court of appeal has rendered its decision. This is not the appeal of R v. Mernagh, but a hearing specifically for deadline stoppage.
The Government of Canada will appeal an Ontario court's ruling that struck down the country's marijuana laws as unconstitutional.
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
by Matt Mernagh, Cannabis Culture
