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Charges stayed for man eating medicinal pot
By Hempology | July 8, 2002
From the Edmonton Journal, July 6th, 2002
By Allan Chambers
An Edmonton man who ate two grams of marijuana a day for about 10 years to deal with lower back pain is in limbo after a judge stayed possession charges against him, his lawyer said Friday.
Meanwhile, advocates of decriminalization called on the federal government to end the confusion surrounding the medical use of marijuana by legalizing the substance.
Brian Oates, the 45-year-old welder at the centre of the case, wasn’t available for comment Friday.
But his lawyer, Barry McMullan, said his client “is in a bit of limbo” after police seized 71 plants and a growing operation from his modest north-end home.
The trafficking charge was dismissed and the possession charge stayed recently by provincial court judge P.G.C. Ketchum, who accepted a defence argument that Oates’ constitutional rights were violated by hitches in a new federal program which grants exemptions permitting the medical use of marijuana.
Oates’ lawyer argued that delays in federal clinical trials, combined with the reluctance of doctors to sign exemption forms because of opposition by their professional associations, made it impossible for Oates to obtain an exemption.
The judge agreed. “In my judgment, it is not in accordance with the principles of fundamental justice to criminalize this accused (Oates) while he waits for a medically approved source of raw marijuana to be made legally available to him,” he wrote.
Munir Ahmad, director of the Edmonton Compassion Network, called on Ottawa to clear up confusion by ending delays and moving towards legalization. Ahmad speculated Ottawa is purposely creating delays in its exemption program in order eventually to kill it.
Federal health spokesperson Andrew Swift said the ruling, similar to an Ontario court ruling in a case involving Toronto resident Terry Parker, won’t sway Ottawa from the process it’s developed.
The federal government intends to do clinical trials on high-grade marijuana to determine its medical benefits. But the trials have been delayed because of problems in producing the right grade of marijuana.
Ketchum ruled the delays have thwarted Oates’ right to treatment. The judge said he accepted Oates’ testimony that he had tried unsuccessfully to treat severe pain in his lower back and legs by conventional means.
On the advice of friends, Oates also experimented with marijuana by smoking it. That proved unsuccessful, then followed other advice and began to eat it. “This time it had an effect,” the judge wrote. “He found he could sleep at night.”
He was also able to resume work — a vast improvement in a condition that left him barely able to walk at times.
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