cannabisnews.com: Police Backing Off on Pot





Police Backing Off on Pot
Posted by CN Staff on June 06, 2003 at 07:39:51 PT
By Nicolaas Van Rijn, Staff Reporter
Source: Toronto Star 
Toronto police Chief Julian Fantino has told his officers to stop laying charges for simple possession of marijuana. The decision, Fantino said in a statement yesterday, follows government inaction and court decisions that leave police wondering "whether simple possession of marijuana is an offence at all."Tom Kaye, president of the Ontario Association of Chiefs of Police, echoed Fantino's move and yesterday advised police leaders across the province to "use discretion in situations that involve the simple possession of marijuana."
It's the first time a major Canadian police force — and a provincial organization of chiefs of police — have taken such a stand on cases involving simple marijuana possession.Fantino said police will simply seize the drugs and record the circumstances, with a view to possibly laying a charge later "following clarification of the law by the court of appeal or Parliament."But that, said Toronto criminal lawyer Paul Copeland, could leave police officers open to lawsuits. "It's legal to smoke pot in this province," he said yesterday. "My opinion is there is no law in Ontario prohibiting possession of up to 30 grams, or a gram of hashish, for that matter."Allan Blakeney, president of the Canadian Civil Liberties Association and a former Saskatchewan premier, agreed."The citizen must know that his conduct is illegal at the time that he is engaged in it," he said last night. "Both the judiciary and the police are acting at this time as if it's not illegal to have a small quantity of marijuana."It is inappropriate for the police to charge him for what he does today on the grounds that an appeal court says three months from now that it is illegal," said Blakeney, a lawyer.Both Fantino and Kaye pointed to a May 16 decision by Mr. Justice Steven Rogin of the Ontario Superior Court of Justice, who upheld a lower court decision to quash a charge against a youth for possessing less than 30 grams of marijuana because the law is no longer valid.Under the change in policy, police will now record the names of anyone found in possession of less than 30 grams of marijuana — about an ounce — and document the seizure, recording names and circumstances."Police will continue to investigate and enforce the law regarding marijuana according to established procedures, but will not lay charges of simple possession," Fantino said in the statement. "Rather, they will seize the marijuana and fully document the incident with a view to laying a charge following clarification of the law by the court of appeal or Parliament."According to Statistics Canada, police in Toronto laid 6,122 charges for possession of marijuana in 2001, the latest year for which figures are available.Kaye, police chief in Owen Sound, counselled other police chiefs in the province to follow the same procedure."We're asking the chiefs basically to advise their officers to show discretion when they're dealing with these things," Kaye said. "If it's under 30 grams, process them in accordance with your department's policy procedure, lob the drugs in the vault, do up all the paperwork that would be required and then wait until we see what's going to happen from the appeals court."And, he warned, "these individuals may well be charged down the road."After Rogin reached his decision in Windsor last month, Brian McAllister, the lawyer who challenged the law on behalf of a 17-year-old, said the decision "effectively erased the criminal prohibition on marijuana from the law books in Ontario."At the time, legal experts said Rogin's decision would almost certainly be followed by judges of Ontario's lower courts, where nearly all marijuana possession cases are decided.Since then, judges across Ontario have followed Rogin's lead and thrown out charges against people accused of possessing less than 30 grams of the drug. Like Rogin, they've relied on a decision from the Ontario Court of Appeal two years ago in the case of Terry Parker, a Toronto man who asserted a constitutional right to smoke marijuana for treatment of his epilepsy.The appeal court told the federal government that, if it didn't find a way to accommodate medical users by July, 2002, the criminal prohibitions on simple possession would fall.According to a running tally kept by the Ontario Criminal Lawyers' Association, judges have generally been halting such prosecutions when they come to court:A Newmarket judge ruled May 30 that information sworn by police in support of laying a charge of simple possession does not constitute an offence known in law. After a judge at Old City Hall suggested the crown either set a date for trial or stay a possession charge, prosecutors dropped the case. A youth court judge at Family Court on Jarvis St. quashed simple possession charges in several cases. Justices of the peace in Windsor have been refusing to deal with informations sworn by police officers in support of simple possession charges. They are instead passing on the paperwork to judges for a decision on whether to authorize the charge.Crown attorneys in Brockville have been withdrawing simple possession charges; in Lanark County, west of Ottawa, they've been staying the charges, a variation that gives them the right to reinstate the charge within a year.But some judges are keeping cases alive and postponing them until later in the year. Yesterday a Toronto judge, Mr. Justice Richard Schneider of the Ontario Court, general division, adjourned until September a case involving simple possession.Rogin's decision in the Windsor case, which is being appealed to the Ontario Court of Appeal, and the government's decision to decriminalize the possession of up to 15 grams of marijuana, have left police confused, Fantino said.It's also made Ontario a "safe haven" for marijuana users, Fantino complained.Fantino also slammed the lack of support from the federal justice department. "Police officers, entrusted with enforcing the law and ensuring the public safety, are entitled to receive clear direction regarding the law from those responsible for making the law."With files from Tracey Tyler and Canadian PressNote: Toronto first major force to ignore simple possession. Ontario now `safe haven' for marijuana users, says Fantino.Source: Toronto Star (CN ON)Author: Nicolaas Van Rijn, Staff ReporterPublished: June 06, 2003Copyright: 2003 The Toronto Star Contact: lettertoed thestar.com Website: http://www.thestar.com/ Related Articles & Web Site:Cannabis News Canadian Linkshttp://freedomtoexhale.com/can.htmJustice Steven Rogin -- Judgmenthttp://freedomtoexhale.com/legalized.htmArresting Pot Smokers Not Worth The Effort http://cannabisnews.com/news/thread16555.shtmlFeds Seek To Plug Pot Holehttp://cannabisnews.com/news/thread16553.shtml'Parade' of Pot Cases Kicked Outhttp://cannabisnews.com/news/thread16516.shtml
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Comment #4 posted by FoM on June 10, 2003 at 11:32:10 PT
afterburner
That's great! I feel such energy coming from the cannabis reform community. Maybe this summer will be a good one for us.
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Comment #3 posted by afterburner on June 10, 2003 at 11:25:01 PT:
Join the Smoke-In in Toronto [June 18 - 22]?
Marc Emery in Toronto Pot & Police Puff Down!
Fri Jun 6 10:49:01 2003 http://www.cannabisculture.com/cgi/wwwthreads/showflat.pl?Cat=&Board=wwwpottv&Number=555150&page=0&view=collapsed&sb=5
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Comment #2 posted by Sam Adams on June 06, 2003 at 17:01:12 PT
Won't someone sue their pants off?
If the appeals court upholds the judgement, the police will then have detained, robbed, and secretly recorded information on a whole lotta people with absolutely no legal basis whatsoever! That's got to be grounds for some serious legal action in Canada.
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Comment #1 posted by afterburner on June 06, 2003 at 08:14:13 PT:
See Also: Canada - US Debate
› Voices: Pot law http://www.thestar.com/scroll down
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