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| Kitchener Woman Plans Pot Suit |
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Posted by CN Staff on May 23, 2002 at 06:21:22 PT Torstar News Service Source: Toronto Star 
A Kitchener woman, who is allowed to smoke marijuana for medical reasons, is one of nine Canadians who will launch a civil lawsuit this week against the federal government in an effort to ease access to pot.To be announced at a Queen's Park press conference Thursday, the lawsuit will demand in Ontario's Superior Court of Justice that Catherine Devries, 44, of Kitchener and other Canadians who have legal exemptions to smoke pot be given access to experimental marijuana crops grown by Health Canada in an abandoned mine shaft in Flin Flon, Man. Medicinal cannabis users from Burlington, Hamilton, Toronto and elsewhere in Canada along with several doctors will speak at the event. The conference was organized at Queen's Park because users are too sick to travel to Ottawa. In the lawsuit, Toronto lawyers Alan Young and Leora Shemesh will also ask judges to rule that existing pot laws are unconstitutional. Devries, who suffers painful spine and bowel conditions, said yesterday that the federal-government has created the appearance that it has changed laws to help about 200 Canadians who legally smoke pot to ease painful, sometimes fatal illnesses to get access to cannabis. "The Liberal government should stop the doubletalk and admit they're conning the public ... they say marijuana is available (but) they have no intention of providing it for medical reasons," she said. "They have been growing crops in Flin Flon for two years but now they don't want to dispense or distribute it." Devries, who buys marijuana from Kitchener dealers or from compassion clubs in Toronto and London, Ont., said Ottawa should distribute cannabis through pharmacies the same way other narcotics are dispensed. Shemesh said she and Young will argue that current marijuana legislation is unconstitutional because medicinal users of marijuana can't comply with a complex, law that is difficult to understand. She said doctors who are willing to prescribe marijuana to users have been warned by medical insurers they won't be covered if they do anything to provide cannabis. Canada is one of only a few countries that have government-regulated systems in place to allow medicinal use of marijuana. The regulations were a response to earlier court rulings that said Canada's pot laws were confusing and unconstitutional because they failed to recognize cannabis had medicinal uses and did nothing to provide a legal supply route for legal users. Source: Toronto Star (CN ON) Related Articles & Web Site: Canadian Links Ailing Canadians to Sue for Promised Pot Potency of Government Marijuana Questioned Analysis: Canada Seeks Standardized Hash Home Comment Email Register Recent Comments Help |
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