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SUMMER OF LEGALIZATION TOUR 2003 by Marc Emery Its July 2003, and I believe not only should marijuana be legal in Canada, but in fact IS legal in Canada. Here's how it became legal. In July 2000, the Ontario Court of Appeal, the highest appeal court in Ontario save the Supreme Court of Canada, ordered the Canadian Parliament to change/amend the existing legislation in the Controlled Drugs & Substances Act (CDSA). The Court ordered the Parliament to draft a new law that took into account a supply and legal access of marijuana for recognized medical marijuana patients in Canada. (the case is: R. v. Parker). The government did not appeal this verdict, but in fact agreed that new legislation to recognize the court order was pending. The Court of Appeal gave Parliament 365 days to come up with a new law, recognized by Parliament, that provided medical marijuana access, and IF Parliament failed to enact a new law, then cannabis would be stricken from the Controlled Drugs & Substances Act. 365 days went by and no new law was passed by Parliament. Instead, only a few, largely obstructive regulations were changed by Health Canada. The Court of Appeal order was ignored by Parliament. On August 1, 2001, by order of the Court of Appeal of Ontario, cannabis was struck from the Controlled Drugs & Substances Act. For many days afterward, I told anyone who would listen that 'marijuana is now legal, but no one believes me.' In fact, it would be a full eighteen months before the media began informing the public that marijuana may very well be legal in Ontario, even as federal Parliament was planning to REcriminalize cannabis, packaging this new legislation as 'decriminalization' (Bill C-38). On February 2 of this year, a verdict came back from a Judge Phillips in Windsor, Ontario. A lawyer named Brian McAllister introduced a hitherto novel case to the Provincial Court judge. McAllister explained to the Court that marijuana was now legal as a consequence of Parliament ignoring the July 2000 Ontario Court of Appeal court order. Judge Phillips examined the merits of McAllister's presentation, brought to the court in the case of a 17 year old Windsor youth being charged with possession of marijuana, and agreed. Judge Phillips concluded there was no valid prohibition of marijuana, and ordered the 17 year old pot smoking defendant to go free, as marijuana possession was no longer an offense 'known to law'. The federal government appealed the Phillips decision and Justice Stephen Rogin, of the Superior Court, heard the case. This was an Appeal Court whose decision would be binding on all the Provincial Court judges who typically hear marijuana possession cases. On May 16, Justice Rogin surprised the world when he agreed with Judge Phillips, declaring that The Ontario Court of Appeal in July 2000 had set clear instructions, and that, as of his decision on May 16, there was no marijuana offense 'known to law' any longer in any Ontario court. The federal government appealed to stay (quash) this ruling from going into effect but the Ontario Court of Appeal refused to quash the Rogin ruling, thus absolutely making marijuana legal and unregulated in Ontario. The Court of Appeal is reviewing the decision in August, but any decision from that Court will not come out until late November, 2003. Parliament cannot pass any new laws until mid November at the earliest, so legal marijuana is a certain LEGAL FACT at least until the end of the year. The Court of Appeal decision that made the cannabis possession law an offense 'not known to law' however, makes null and void an aspect of the CDSA that is applied all across Canada. The marijuana possession laws were deemed invalid in Ontario in Ontario Courts, but the law struck down is one that affects all Canadians. It is my belief that since a Court of Appeal has struck down the cannabis possession law, and that at the time of the verdict of the Court of Appeal in July, 2000, the government did not appeal the decision, but agreed to abide by the ruling, then in fact a portion of the Controlled Drugs & Substances Act, dealing with the inclusion of cannabis as a Schedule II drug, has been struck from the Act, and that cannabis possession is not an offense known to law ANYWHERE in Canada. That is why I am here today, SMOKING and POSSESSING MARIJUANA in front of your community's local POLICE HEADQUARTERS. I am asserting, in the most direct way that I can, that marijuana is entirely legal and must be recognized as such by your local magistrates and police officers. Not only to assert our rights under the current 'legalized' environment, but we must assert our deserved expectation that marijuana be legalized and recognized by the Canadian government when Parliament reconvenes in the fall. Politicians will try to turn back the clock and recriminalize marijuana. This is our big opportunity to demonstrate that legalization is a win-win situation for everyone, and we must fight against the inevitable prohibitionist reaction to try to criminalize us again. Next year is a federal election. I want as many of you as can be convinced to run as Marijuana Party of Canada candidates. The Marijuana Party of Canada will need candidates next Spring or Fall for the 2004 Federal Election. The Liberal Party, with the assistance of the Canadian Alliance, will likely try to recriminalize marijuana in this next session. The Marijuana Party of Canada believes in full freedom for the Canadian cannabis culture, which means legalization. That is what we must advocate at all times. Full legalization is the only policy that will satisfy every body of Canadian society, certainly it is the only remedy to our culture being treated disgracefully for the last 70 years by the police, the courts and the law. Over 1,000,000 Canadians have criminal records for cannabis. We continue to experience violent, brutal police raids on our growers, sellers and the rest of us in the cannabis culture throughout Canada. This must end. Only legalization will end the appalling apartheid the marijuana community endures as a consequence of prohibition. I urge you to stay connected to the marijuana community by subscribing to Cannabis Culture Magazine, watching POT-TV.NET, viewing Cannabis Culture Online (cannabisculture.com), and by joining the Marijuana Party of Canada (http://www.marijuanaparty.ca). Please write letters to your local newspaper and your local Member of Parliament. Assert your rights as a citizen of Canada! We shall legalize marijuana together to a glorious future that the rest of the world will envy. A fellow Canadian, [Text from back of pamphlet. Source: CannabisLink.ca] The FINDINGS OF FACT that have been accepted by the Ontario Court of Appeal would provide a standard for factual information about cannabis: 1. Consumption of marijuana is relatively harmless compared to the so-called hard drugs and including tobacco and alcohol; 2. There exists no hard evidence demonstrating any irreversible organic or mental damage from the consumption of marijuana; 3. That cannabis does cause alteration of mental functions and as such, it would not be prudent to drive a car while intoxicated; 4. There is no hard evidence that cannabis consumption induces psychoses; 5. Cannabis is not an addictive substance; 6. Marijuana is not criminogenic in that there is no evidence of a causal relationship between cannabis use and criminality; 7. That the consumption of marijuana probably does not lead to "hard drug" use for the vast majority of marijuana consumers, although there appears to be a statistical relationship between the use of marijuana and a variety of other psychoactive drugs; 8. Marijuana does not make people more aggressive or violent; 9. There have been no recorded deaths from the consumption of marijuana; 10. There is no evidence that marijuana causes amotivational syndrome; 11. Less than 1% of marijuana consumers are daily users; 12. Consumption in so-called "de-criminalized states" does not increase out of proportion to states where there is no de-criminalization. 13. Health related costs of cannabis use are negligible when compared to the costs attributable to tobacco and alcohol consumption. Download... Print... Distribute... Inform.
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