Is Pot Legal In Canada?

[litoz22]

:stoned: it was accepted or w.e, that was in 2004 wen it was proposed and it was indeed accepted.... ill find u the actual bill... trust me .. my aunts a cop.. shes even told me... i laff at her tho.. bcuz she cant smoke weed n e more LOL

litoz22 Reviewed by litoz22 on 08-21-2006. Is Pot Legal In Canada? I'm British and I live in Chicago while I'm in grad school. I'm going to Canada later this year, and I wanted to know if bud is legal there, or decriminalized or what. I've heard about coffee shops - the "poor man's Amsterdam" - and if anyone knows, please tell me! (I've smoked BC buds once, and it knocked me on my ass!!!) Rating: 5

[Jaycub]

http://www.cannabisculture.com/articles/2958.html

"Marijuana advocates across Canada are celebrating a May 16 Ontario court decision, which effectively legalized possession in Canada's largest province.

On Friday, May 16, Ontario Superior Court Justice Steven Rogin upheld the lower court ruling of Justice Philips, concerning a case of pot possession in Ontario.

Justice Rogin agreed that the federal government had failed in its obligation to change the law to allow for medical use of marijuana, and so the entire law was void.

This decision is binding on Ontario's lower courts, which means that no-one can be convicted of pot possession in Ontario. This effectively means that marijuana is now legal in Canada's largest province."

[litoz22]

ye supposenly it was legal for a lil.. but they ended up fixing it .. trust me.. it was all voer teh news...

[duckfool]

your an idiot if you think that weed is legal or decriminalized here.

[kindred]

www.torontohemp.com/canadian.htm

"Summary:
Many people visiting this page are doing so because they are truly confused about the legal status of Cannabis (marijuana) in Canada, and with good reason. You've surely heard over and over in the media, from the courts, and straight from the lying mouths of our elected representatives, that changes are being made to our marijuana laws - but what changes actually have been made!? Well, sadly, not many!

It is still, as it has been for around a decade (since the introduction of the Controlled Drugs and Substances Act - CDSA 1996) and similarly for many decades before that, a criminal offense with serious penalties, for someone to be caught in possession of even a small amount of marijuana or a single plant or marijuana seed in Canada. And as ridiculous as this may be, it is also still very possible for one to be charged with Trafficking for so innocent an activity as passing a joint. And sick people are still being toyed with and are still having to jump through ridiculous hoops in order to potentially (against great odds) receive a not-very-helpful government-granted exemption from these idiotic laws as well as the ability to purchase sub-standard marijuana from the Health Canada marijuana mine monopoly, which is greatly lacking in variety, potency, accessibility and compassion. Sadly, we're now amazingly WAY BEHIND many U.S. States! Surprised? So are we! We were promised, and have expected, major positive changes to our drug laws and efforts to end the damage and chaos created by prohibition, for many years now. But all is not lost! There have been major steps in the right direction, mostly in the courts and courts of public opinion as well as the findings of many government appointed and funded committees and reports. And as you surely know, archaic and ridiculous laws often remain 'on the books' long after our leaders and police have ceased to enforce them.

"But I thought the Canadian government 'decriminalized' marijuana!?" - Lots of people think that the Canadian government made changes, but that never happened. What actually happened was that the Chretien government years ago drafted a 'legacy' bill that proposed to replace the potential jail time, criminal record and other sanctions for possession of a very small amount (30 and later 15 grams) of marijuana or a very small number (perhaps 3) of marijuana plants with a system of fines. This bill was introduced and debated, but was not made 'law' before the end of Chretien's parliament, then re-introduced and re-debated again a few times with various incantations of our government, never to be actually accepted or made law. This all involved quite a double-edged sword, however, because while the bill would undoubtedly have eased some of the problems caused by marijuana prohibition (primarily the saddling of countless thousands of Canadians with a criminal record for very minor marijuana possession and the restrictions that come with such a record), it was also a 'wolf in sheep's clothing' in that it would have made many 'bad' changes, counterproductive ones, such as doubling penalties for possession or cultivation of not-too-large quantities of marijuana or plants (50 plants for instance leading to a proposed 14 years in prison rather than the current maximum of 7). Clearly there was an unreasonable amount of misguided 'compromise' involved, and so the death of such a schizophrenic bill is not altogether a bad thing.

Our government also started (after being forced to by a couple court decisions), and continues, selling marijuana to a few hundred very sick Canadians who have been able (against great odds) to convince their doctor to help them make the necessary application. Canadian doctors have gone from not at all wanting the slightest thing to do with the situation, to a small handful being willing (usually with liability release and other stipulations) to be somewhat cooperative with their generally dying patients' applications for exemption. We also have a government-appointed marijuana farm (in a mine deep down below Flin-Flon Manitoba, amazingly) which is the sole legal provider of marijuana to those 'exempted' Canadians (aside from the option they have to 'grow their own' or to designate a personal cultivator who also must apply and be accepted by the Marihuana Medical Access Regulations [MMAR] program). As most of you have probably heard, there have been major problems with the quality and effectiveness, and even the safety, of the government marijuana - most of the problems have somewhat improved over the years and with great effort, but people still generally are very unhappy with the whole program. The struggle has involved a handful of court cases, including one in which the Toronto Compassion Centre along with a handful of medicinal users took the Canadian government to court alleging (and proving) that the MMAR and consequently the CDSA are unconstitutional and unfair. Each time a case was won, the government was basically ordered to make some changes to their program, and often they did make some change although that change more often than not actually resulted in the situation being worse than it had been before - sounds like government, doesn't it!?

One of the changes resulted in the government's pot farm (Prarie Plant Systems) starting to sell Cannabis seeds (but only for one or two strains) to those people entitled to grow medicinal marijuana under the MMAR regime. In 2005 and 2006, a couple large marijuana seed companies found themselves in legal hot water (Marc Emery's pending extradition to the USA and the Heaven's Stairway situation in Montreal with the RCMP) apparently due to 'excessive' political action and the formation of a number of RCMP squads devoted to wiping out the 'scourge' of Cannabis gardens. Before these busts, however, Cannabis seed selling had been greatly tolerated with the only few charges resulting in very small fines. Due to this confusion, and the situation of medical necessity caused by there being no legitimate source of a variety of Cannabis strain genetics, the legality of marijuana seeds and their sale in Canada is very much in question.

With the government exemption of medicinal cannabis users and distribution of cannabis products to some of the sick folks in our Nation who need them being very much less than adequate in many ways, "Compassion Clubs" a.k.a. Compassion Centres, a.k.a. Compassion Societies, a.k.a. Buyer's Clubs - non-profit and somewhat underground but 'tolerated' dispensaries for Canadians with a verified medical necessity for cannabis products continue to exist and thrive and grow and evolve as the chaotic situation changes.

A number of court cases and acts of civil disobedience back in 2003 proved that for at least a short time the section of the CDSA regarding possession of marijuana was actually no longer constitutional or in effect (as a result of the government failing to acceptably make some of the legislative modifications they were ordered by the courts to make, as mentioned above). Later in 2003 the Ontario Court of Appeal, apparently overstepping the bounds of their jurisdiction, declared that the CDSA was back in effect (and hence the "Summer of Legalization" was over).

More recently, court cases have shown that cannabis-based 'edibles' ('pot brownies' and 'pot cookies' for example) may not necessarily be illegal - depending on how they are prepared, what charges the police choose to lay, and what happens when those 'edibles' are tested. It is still somewhat unclear to what degree 'baked goods' are against the law.

Another recent trend is the widespread opening of "Cannabis Cafes", coffee shops that have various forms of 'cannabis-friendliness' including allowing people to 'bring your own bud' and smoke or vaporize whatever herb they prefer in or around the cafe, and even the selling of marijuana seeds and cannabis-based baked goods. It appears (as you will see much further below) that there is no law prohibiting the operation of cannabis-smoke-friendly cafes (even while the patrons, of course, may be guilty of possession) and that the legality and level of tolerance for activities like selling seeds and edibles varies and is somewhat 'up in the air.' One way or another, Cannabis Cafes are here to stay, and they're popping up in towns all over including many near you!

So that's pretty much it, things are at least as confused and confusing as ever, but there is a general shift happening in the right direction - it's just happening extremely slowly and against great resistance from our leaders and a bunch of people who are too ignorant to know any better! We're going to keep on struggling and hoping for positive change, because believe it or not the prohibition of Cannabis (and other 'drugs') is one of the most horrendous human rights abuses of our time. So please, do what you can to educate yourselves and those around you, and to otherwise help make this world a better place."

...

All the best,
Dom

www.torontohemp.com / www.tccentre.org / www.sacredseed.com / www.theherbcollective.com / www.kindredcafe.com

[S.P.Q.R.]

Marijuana isnt legal in Canada but when the LEO there sees you with marijuana, unlike America they dont go "OMFG LOOK" rush over to you like your about to shoot their children, tackle you and take your bag of one fucking gram and send you to prison for 4 years for it. Instead in Canada they might just take it or might not say anything at all or warn you, or so I'm told .

Sounds like heaven...

Seriously I really hate our weed laws

[Web Smoker]

Weed is not legal anywhere, not even in Amsterdam. It is just tolerated to various degrees.

Acutally the only place weed is fully legal is prog

[JordaN23]

Depends on the cops that bust you...I had some cops take my pipe and 6 gs all in g's in baggies (for dealing obviously) and I watched them put it in their pocket.