« Swallow and Beren trial continues with Senator Nolin on the stand | Main | Emery looks to Ron Paul for amnesty »
Medical marijuana dispensaries not a priority says police
By Hempology | August 10, 2007
Victoria Times-Colonist, BC
August 10, 2007
Richard Watts
Pot not a priority, deputy chief testifies
Victoria’s No. 2 cop testified in B.C. Supreme Court yesterday that neither the Vancouver Island Compassion Society nor its distribution of medical marijuana has ever been the subject of a criminal investigation.
Deputy Chief Bill Naughton said the society’s Cormorant Street office of the Vancouver Island Compassion Society has not generated any complaints, adding marijuana ranks behind drugs like cocaine, methamphetamine and heroin in terms of Victoria police priorities.
“The enforcement of federal laws against marijuana takes a back seat,” said Naughton, who was subpoenaed by the defence in the trial of Michael Swallow, 41, and Mat Beren, 33.
Both men were charged with possession of marijuana for the purpose of trafficking and production of marijuana after a police raid on a compassion club grow-op.
In fact, it was the RCMP, not Victoria police, who in May 2004 raided the house near Sooke used by the Vancouver Island Compassion Society to grow marijuana for its 600-odd members. Compassion club is the name commonly given to groups organized by citizens to supply marijuana as medicine.
Swallow and Beren’s lawyers have mounted a constitutional challenge to Canada’s medical-marijuana regulations, contending they force people to obtain drugs on the black market.
That’s because, critics say, government-produced pot is poor quality, and rules for designated growers are too restrictive.
Also testifying yesterday in Victoria was Senator Pierre Claude Nolin, who chaired the Senate Special Committee on Illegal Drugs, which called in 2002 for the legalization of marijuana in Canada.
Nolin told the court the regulations, as they currently exist, are an obstacle to Canadians who want access to medical marijuana.
He said the rules ask doctors to be “gatekeepers” for access to legal marijuana. It’s a role doctors don’t want, and so Canadians are being denied access to a medical product.
“[The] medical profession is reluctant, generally reluctant,” he said. “They don’t want to be the gatekeepers, they don’t want that responsibility.”
Canada’s medical-marijuana laws, developed in response to earlier court rulings, allow citizens to use marijuana for medical purposes — for example, for relief from seizures or nausea. But approval requires a doctor to fill out and sign a form.
Patients can then grow their own marijuana, designate someone to grow it for them or buy it from the government, which has hired a company to grow pot in Flin Flon, Man.
Nolin, a Tory, said it would be more effective to have the government control the flow of marijuana through licensed distribution centres set up across the country.
“We need to have a controlled environment,” he said.
Topics: Articles | Comments Off
Comments are closed.