Leading up to Christmas, Ottawa plans to stay 4,000 charges of pot possession because of legal battles over medicinal marijuana, reported The Globe and Mail Dec. 9. The decision followed Health Canada’s announcement that it would not appeal an Ontario Court of Appeal ruling that allows ill people to grow their own marijuana supply or to obtain it from designated growers. Health Minister Anne McLellan said the government would amend regulations to give reasonable access to a legal source of pot for medical purposes.
However, York Osgoode Hall Law School Professor Alan Young, a lawyer representing 11 of the 697 patients in Canada authorized by the government to use medicinal marijuana, had concerns about whether the government would ensure proper access to pot. “All I’ve seen is crisis public-policy management,” he told the Globe. Those using marijuana for therapeutic reasons are upset that the government plans to strictly limit local growing operations, forcing patients to obtain government pot, which they consider inferior and overpriced.
Making beautiful music
York student Jeff Wu’s photograph was printed in the North York Mirror Dec. 5, as he performed during a concert in the University’s McLaughlin College Performance Hall.