Toronto, Ontario: An Ontario Court of Appeals judge on Tuesday declined to suspend a lower court ruling from the Summary Conviction Appeal Courts that nullified pot possession laws within the province. As a result, “possession of small amounts of marijuana is legal and will remain so until the federal government passes new legislation or the Court of Appeals ultimately overturns the lower court ruling,” the Ottawa Citizen reported.
Court of Appeals Judge Louise Charon said it would be “unprecedented” to suspend the previous ruling pending appeal, which is scheduled to take place in July.
In May, Ontario Summary Conviction Appeal Court Justice Steven Rogin ruled that there exists no valid law prohibiting the minor possession of marijuana because the federal government had failed to comply with a July 2000 Ontario Court of Appeal decision mandating it to enact legislation creating a legal distinction between the medical and non-medical use of pot. To date, Parliament has created separate regulations governing the use and possession of medical marijuana, but has not changed the actual law. As a result, Rogin determined that the entire federal statute pertaining to the simple possession of marijuana is null and void.
Since Rogin’s ruling, dozens of marijuana possession cases have been stayed or dismissed throughout the province.
Canada’s Supreme Court is expected to rule later this year on a separate case arguing that national laws prohibiting the non-medical use of marijuana violate Canadians’ guaranteed rights to life, liberty and personal security.
For more information, please contact either Keith Stroup, NORML Executive Director, at (202) 483-5500 or John Conroy, Esq., Director of Canada NORML, at (604) 852-5110.