A Prince George man who legally grows marijuana in his home for medical purposes is pleased that a federal court judge has struck down a federal ban that was set to take effect April 1.
Judge Michael Manson granted an application from a group of medical marijuana patients, who asked for a temporary injunction to preserve the status quo until a constitutional challenge of the new system can be heard.
"Now it's not a given that the next court case will go in their favour but I rather suspect it will because all the other court cases the government has taken to court have lost so they don't have a very good track record," said Tom, whose name has been changed to protect his identity.
With so much uncertainty, he said he's stopped growing for now but built up a surplus to last him for awhile.
"I'll see what's going to happen but it's definitely a win today," said Tom.
Tom was featured in The Citizen in June 2013, when the government first announced its plan. Tom, who had throat cancer, said marijuana helps him sleep and deal with anxiety. Tom is licenced to grow up to 25 plants but he only grows about half of that. Using the pot he grows in his garage, he makes marijuana-infused butter for use in cookie recipes. He eats about half a cookie each evening shortly before bedtime.
The decision represents a significant blow, at least in the short term, to the Conservative government's attempt to overhaul Canada's medical marijuana system, which it says is rife with problems ranging from unsafe grow-ops to infiltration by criminals.
The new regulations restrict medical marijuana production to commercial growers, though the injunction does not affect the new licensing system.
Health Canada had warned any patient licensed to grow pot under the current rules must confirm they have destroyed their plants or they would be reported to the police.
"I really think the federal government is bullying people and bullying people who are sick," said Tom. "They are using scare tactics by telling them their names will be turned over to police as of the first of April and there will be a knock on their door and they are intimidating them and this judge put a stop to everything."
The plaintiffs in the lawsuit argued the updated regulations violate their right to access important medicine, because marijuana is expected to initially be more expensive under the new system. They also said they won't have as much control over which strains of the drug they use.
The judge concluded some patients will not be able to afford marijuana if prices increase as they are predicted to do under the new system.
"This group will be irreparably harmed by the effects of the (new regulations)," Manson said in a written decision.
"I find that the nature of the irreparable harm that the applicants will suffer under the (updated regulations)constitutes a 'clear case,' which outweighs the public interest in wholly maintaining the enacted regulations."
Under the terms of the injunction, patients who were licensed to possess or grow marijuana, whether for their own personal use or as a designated person for another patient, as of Sept. 30 of last year can continue to do so.
Those patients will be permitted to possess up to 150 grams of marijuana, the decision says.
Canada first regulated medical marijuana in 2001, but only after the government was forced to do so by the courts. A year earlier, an Ontario court concluded the law at the time violated the rights of sick people who used pot to alleviate their symptoms.
The number of people authorized to possess - and often grow - marijuana has increased to 37,000 this year from fewer than 100 in 2001. The federal government says the current licences translate to about 3.5 million plants.
The Stephen Harper government announced a significant overhaul of the system last year and has since been accepting applications from commercial growers.
In this week's court hearing, a government lawyer said there is no constitutional right to cheap medicine, and he argued there was no scientific evidence to show specific strains of marijuana are better suited to particular illnesses or patients.
The patients' lawyer suggested the government had offered little concrete evidence that the medical marijuana system actually poses as many risks as it claims.
While the injunction application didn't specifically target the new commercial licensing regime, the government argued that allowing some patients to continue growing their own pot would prevent the fledgling medical marijuana industry from fully developing.
The Federal Court ruling notes the potential for the injunction to affect the commercial market, but Manson writes the impact will be short-lived and won't have a major impact on the government's ability to implement its regulations.
