 | NORML News: international news Canada |
 med pot in pharmacies, decrim bill in parliament
The Canadian Government is beginning a pilot program which will enable patients to buy medical marijuana at their local pharmacies, and is pushing a decriminalisation bill through parliament.
British Columbia will host the pilot project because the province's college of pharmacists supported the distribution of medical marijuana in pharmacies. Canada became the first country in the world to provide medical marijuana to patients after a 2003 court ruling forced the government to provide legal means for certified patients to obtain cannabis. It will be only the second nation - after the Netherlands - to make cannabis available at pharmacies.
The Canadian government has also reintroduced a bill to decriminalise possession of small quantities of marijuana. The bill specifies that possession of up to 15 grams and cultivating fewer than four plants would incur fines rather than a criminal record. A new amendment to the bill would make it an offence "to knowingly disclose to a foreign government or international organisation" any marijuana offences which do not result in a criminal record. The thinking behind the amendment was that police would be more inclined to ticket under the new scheme than they would have been to lay criminal charges. That could mean more people ending up in a police database that could be accessed internationally. In particular, more Canadians probably would be flagged by American authorities as a result of the law change.
"One of the potential consequences is that it stigmatizes young Canadians in that it impedes their movement across the border," said Toronto lawyer Paul Burstein.
The government wants the law to pass before the next federal election, expected within a few months.
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