A Federal Court decision today was good news for medical marijuana users who were angered over new Health Canada regulations that would make it illegal to privately grow and possess the plant.
Five B.C. residents launched a challenge against the federal government's proposed cultivation ban, fighting to allow Marihuana Medical Access Regulations (MMAR) license-holders to be allowed to continue growing and distributing marijuana for a year after laws change on April 1 to reflect the new Marihuana for Medical Purposes Regulations (MMPR).
The MMPR would force private growers to dismantle production equipment, destroy stockpiled cannabis, and buy only from large, highly regulated facilities directly via mail order.
A federal court judge today granted an interim injunction that extends the value of the MMAR license for another year while a court date is set to make a ruling on the cultivation ban.
John Conroy is the Abbotsford-based lawyer who argued the case. He is also a board member of the Medicinal Cannabis Resource Centre (MCRCI) in Vancouver, which helps patients find medical practitioners and information about medical marijuana.
Terry Rycroft is the owner of the MCRCI, and is familiar with many of the people who rely on growing their own medical marijuana.
"About 30% of the 40,000 people that have been licensed - and there's predicted to be about 100,000 over the next ten years - are people that fall in the category of welfare, disenfranchised-type people that could never afford the product at $6 or $7 or $8 a gram," said Rycroft.
He argues that removing the ability for people who can't afford mass-production marijuana to grow their own is unconstitutional, and forces them to choose between liberty and health.
"They asked for an extension of a year so that the government can come in and better create a plan for those people that can't afford that."
Rycroft believes that the outcome may be similar to what is done in the States, where strict regulations on the amount of equipment and production an individual can possess are enforced.
The current interim injunction only affects MMAR licenses active before September 30. No new MMAR licenses are currently being given out by Health Canada.
Dana Larsen is the vice president of the Canadian Association of Medical Cannabis Dispensaries, and said that the injunction gives patients more options about where to buy their medical marijuana, and forces big companies to be more competitive.
"People can brew their own wine and beer, but the wine and beer industries are doing just fine," said Larsen. "If the legal companies can make medical marijuana cheap and high quality at a low price, then people won't choose to grow their own. But I absolutely believe patients have the right to grow their own if they want to."
The Crown has said that it may take 6 months to come up with a court date.
