Cannabis legalization in Canada - AbsoluteAstronomy.com

The legal status of cannabis
Cannabis
Cannabis is a genus of flowering plants that includes three putative species, Cannabis sativa, Cannabis indica, and Cannabis ruderalis. These three taxa are indigenous to Central Asia, and South Asia. Cannabis has long been used for fibre , for seed and seed oils, for medicinal purposes, and as a...

in Canada
Canada
Canada is a North American country consisting of ten provinces and three territories. Located in the northern part of the continent, it extends from the Atlantic Ocean in the east to the Pacific Ocean in the west, and northward into the Arctic Ocean...

is under dispute. Superior and appellate courts in Ontario have repeatedly declared Canada's marijuana laws to be of no force and effect. However, challenges to marijuana laws at the federal level have not resulted in the deletion of the appropriate articles from the Criminal Code of Canada

Criminal Code of Canada

The Criminal Code or Code criminel is a law that codifies most criminal offences and procedures in Canada. Its official long title is "An Act respecting the criminal law"...

and the Controlled Drugs and Substances Act

Controlled Drugs and Substances Act

The Controlled Drugs and Substances Act is Canada's federal drug control statute. Passed in 1996 by the Chrétien government, it repeals the Narcotic Control Act and Parts III and IV of the Food and Drug Act and establishes eight Schedules of controlled substances and two Classes of precursors...

. Police and prosecution services in other Canadian jurisdictions still pursue criminal charges for marijuana possession.

The cultivation of cannabis

Cannabis (drug)

Cannabis, also known as marijuana among many other names, refers to any number of preparations of the Cannabis plant intended for use as a psychoactive drug or for medicinal purposes. The English term marijuana comes from the Mexican Spanish word marihuana...

is currently illegal in Canada, with exceptions only for medical usage.

Several polls since 2003 have found that a majority of Canadians agreed with the statement, "The use of marijuana should be legalized", the latest being the 2009 Angus Reid poll, with 53% for legalization. However, the current government, the Conservatives, are attempting to pass an omnibus bill with "mandatory minimum" penalties and jail sentences for drug crimes; the bill does not have the support of the opposition, however the Conservative government is a majority. Cannabis users are specifically targeted.

Early drug prohibition

Drug prohibition in Canada began with the Opium Act of 1908, which was introduced based on a report by then-Deputy Minister of Labour, Mackenzie King

William Lyon Mackenzie King

William Lyon Mackenzie King, PC, OM, CMG was the dominant Canadian political leader from the 1920s through the 1940s. He served as the tenth Prime Minister of Canada from December 29, 1921 to June 28, 1926; from September 25, 1926 to August 7, 1930; and from October 23, 1935 to November 15, 1948...

. Following the Asiatic Exclusion League

Asiatic Exclusion League

The Asiatic Exclusion League, often abbreviated AEL, was a racist organization formed in the early twentieth century in the United States and Canada that aimed to prevent immigration of people of East Asian origin.-United States:...

riot of 1907, King went to Vancouver

Vancouver

Vancouver is a coastal seaport city on the mainland of British Columbia, Canada. It is the hub of Greater Vancouver, which, with over 2.3 million residents, is the third most populous metropolitan area in the country,...

to investigate causes of the riots and claims for compensation. Some of the claims came from opium

Opium

Opium is the dried latex obtained from the opium poppy . Opium contains up to 12% morphine, an alkaloid, which is frequently processed chemically to produce heroin for the illegal drug trade. The latex also includes codeine and non-narcotic alkaloids such as papaverine, thebaine and noscapine...

manufacturers seeking compensation for damage done to their production facilities by the mob that attacked Chinatown

Chinatown (Vancouver)

Chinatown in Vancouver, British Columbia is Canada's largest Chinatown. Centred on Pender Street, it is surrounded by Gastown and the Downtown Financial and Central Business Districts to the west, the Downtown Eastside to the north, the remnant of old Japantown to the northeast, and the...

and Japantown

Japantown (Vancouver)

Japantown, Little Yokohama, or Little Tokyo is an old neighbourhood in Vancouver, British Columbia, north of Chinatown, that once had a concentration of Japanese immigrants. It was attacked on 7 September 1907 by the Asiatic Exclusion League, which smashed many windows in parts of Chinatown, and...

. While in Vancouver, King interviewed members of a Chinese anti-opium league and came away in favour of suppressing the drug because “opium smoking was making headway, not only among white men and boys, but also among women and girls.” In his report, King summarized the progress of the anti-opium movement in China

China

Chinese civilization may refer to:* China for more general discussion of the country.* Chinese culture* Greater China, the transnational community of ethnic Chinese.* History of China* Sinosphere, the area historically affected by Chinese culture...

, the United States

United States

The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...

, Britain

United Kingdom

The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern IrelandIn the United Kingdom and Dependencies, other languages have been officially recognised as legitimate autochthonous languages under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages...

, and Japan

Japan

Japan is an island nation in East Asia. Located in the Pacific Ocean, it lies to the east of the Sea of Japan, China, North Korea, South Korea and Russia, stretching from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north to the East China Sea and Taiwan in the south...

to make the point that Canada was lagging behind in this international movement. King’s recommendations were the basis for the 1908 Opium Act, which prohibited the sale, manufacture, and importation of opium for other than medicinal use. This was followed by the Opium and Drug Act of 1911, which outlawed the sale or possession of morphine

Morphine

Morphine is a potent opiate analgesic medication and is considered to be the prototypical opioid. It was first isolated in 1804 by Friedrich Sertürner, first distributed by same in 1817, and first commercially sold by Merck in 1827, which at the time was a single small chemists' shop. It was more...

, opium

Opium

, or cocaine

Cocaine

Cocaine is a crystalline tropane alkaloid that is obtained from the leaves of the coca plant. The name comes from "coca" in addition to the alkaloid suffix -ine, forming cocaine. It is a stimulant of the central nervous system, an appetite suppressant, and a topical anesthetic...

. Smoking opium became a separate offence, punishable by a maximum penalty of $50 and one month in jail. King introduced the new legislation based on recommendations from the chief constable

Chief Constable

Chief constable is the rank used by the chief police officer of every territorial police force in the United Kingdom except for the City of London Police and the Metropolitan Police, as well as the chief officers of the three 'special' national police forces, the British Transport Police, Ministry...

of the Vancouver police

Vancouver Police Department

The Vancouver Police Department is the police force for the City of Vancouver in British Columbia, Canada. It is one of several police departments within the Metro Vancouver Area and is the second largest police force in the province after RCMP "E" Division.VPD was the first Canadian police force...

and to bring Canada’s drug laws in line with resolutions passed at an American-led international anti-opium conference in Shanghai

Shanghai

Shanghai is the largest city by population in China and the largest city proper in the world. It is one of the four province-level municipalities in the People's Republic of China, with a total population of over 23 million as of 2010...

. The name of the 1911 Act is significant because it separates opium, associated with Chinese users, from “white drugs,” so labelled because of the colour of both the drugs themselves and the race of those presumed to be consuming them.

The next wave of legislation began with the Opium and Narcotic Drug Act of 1920, which was amended in 1921 and again in 1922 before being consolidated in 1923. Penalties became stiffer in the 1920s, with far more prison terms being handed out compared with the earlier period when fines were typically given. Maximum prison sentences also increased from one to seven years and in 1922, possession and trafficking became a deportable offence. The catalyst for these laws also differed from the earlier ones in that they were largely the result of the agitation of moral reformers, particularly those in Vancouver who had stirred up a full-blown moral panic

Moral panic

A moral panic is the intensity of feeling expressed in a population about an issue that appears to threaten the social order. According to Stanley Cohen, author of Folk Devils and Moral Panics and credited creator of the term, a moral panic occurs when "[a] condition, episode, person or group of...

over the drug issue in the early 1920s. Race remained a persistent theme, and the drug prohibition movement was closely related to the move to totally exclude Chinese immigrants from Canada, which led to the 1923 Chinese Exclusion Act

Chinese Immigration Act, 1923

The Chinese Immigration Act, 1923, known in the Chinese Canadian community as the Chinese Exclusion Act, was an act passed by the Parliament of Canada, banning most forms of Chinese immigration to Canada...

Cannabis prohibition

Cannabis was added to the Confidential Restricted List in 1923. Historians usually point to the 1922 publication of Emily Murphy

Emily Murphy

Emily Murphy was a Canadian women's rights activist, jurist, and author. In 1916, she became the first woman magistrate in Canada, and in the British Empire...

’s The Black Candle as the inspiration for the addition. Murphy was a suffragist and police magistrate who wrote a series of articles in Maclean’s magazine under the pen-name “Janey Canuck,” which formed the basis of her book. She uses numerous anecdotes culled mostly from anti-drug reformers and police to make her arguments, which make strong links between drugs and race and the threat this poses to white women. One chapter is entitled "Marahuana – A New Menace", and makes the claim that the only ways out of cannabis addiction are insanity, death, or abandonment.

Although her anti-drug screeds were widely read and helped spread the drug panic across the country, historian Catharine Carstairs disputes that the short chapter in Murphy’s book on cannabis inspired the drug’s inclusion on Canada’s restricted substance list. Specifically, Murphy was not respected by the Division of Narcotic Control because of the creative liberties she took in presenting research they had assisted her with.

More likely, cannabis was added to the list because of Canadian involvement in international conferences where it was discussed. According to one government official, cannabis was outlawed after the Director of the Federal Division of Narcotic Control returned from League of Nations

League of Nations

The League of Nations was an intergovernmental organization founded as a result of the Paris Peace Conference that ended the First World War. It was the first permanent international organization whose principal mission was to maintain world peace...

meetings where the international control of the drug was broached. Cannabis did not begin to attract official attention in Canada until the latter 1930s, and even then it was minimal. The first seizure of cannabis by Canadian police was not until 1937. Between 1946 and 1961, cannabis accounted for only 2% of all drug arrests in Canada.

Cannabis refugees in Canada

There are cases of users of medical marijuana in the United States who, on being persecuted in their own country, have fled across the border to Canada, where they have sought asylum under the United Nations

United Nations

The United Nations is an international organization whose stated aims are facilitating cooperation in international law, international security, economic development, social progress, human rights, and achievement of world peace...

refugee convention. This began occurring in the early part of the 2000s when the U.S. Attorney General

Attorney General

In most common law jurisdictions, the attorney general, or attorney-general, is the main legal advisor to the government, and in some jurisdictions he or she may also have executive responsibility for law enforcement or responsibility for public prosecutions.The term is used to refer to any person...

, John Ashcroft

John Ashcroft

John David Ashcroft is a United States politician who served as the 79th United States Attorney General, from 2001 until 2005, appointed by President George W. Bush. Ashcroft previously served as the 50th Governor of Missouri and a U.S...

, ordered a clampdown on the use of medical marijuana in the United States. Some of those who have fled are wanted by the U.S. federal government on charges related to their use of marijuana.

Failed decriminalization bills (2002, 2004)

On May 27, 2002, the Liberal government of Jean Chretien

Jean Chrétien

Joseph Jacques Jean Chrétien , known commonly as Jean Chrétien is a former Canadian politician who was the 20th Prime Minister of Canada. He served in the position for over ten years, from November 4, 1993 to December 12, 2003....

introduced a bill that would have decriminalized the possession for personal use of small amounts of cannabis. Possession of 15 grams or less would have been punishable only with a fine, and those possessing between 15 and 30 grams would be either ticketed or arrested for criminal charges at the officer's discretion. Personal cultivation of up to seven plants would have also become a summary offence

Summary offence

A summary offence is a criminal act in some common law jurisdictions that can be proceeded with summarily, without the right to a jury trial and/or indictment .- United States :...

, while the punishment for cultivation in larger amounts would have been more severe. The bill looked likely to pass into law, but it died when Parliament prorogued. The bill's death was largely due to pressure from the American government's Drug Enforcement Administration

Drug Enforcement Administration

The Drug Enforcement Administration is a federal law enforcement agency under the United States Department of Justice, tasked with combating drug smuggling and use within the United States...

, which had threatened to slow down border-crossings along the Canadian-American border so as to control the smuggling of cannabis.

An identical bill was introduced in November 2004 by the minority Liberal government of Paul Martin

Paul Martin

Paul Edgar Philippe Martin, PC , also known as Paul Martin, Jr. is a Canadian politician who was the 21st Prime Minister of Canada, as well as leader of the Liberal Party of Canada....

, but it too died, when Martin's government was defeated in a confidence vote. After the Conservative victory in the 2006 election

Canadian federal election, 2006

The 2006 Canadian federal election was held on January 23, 2006, to elect members of the Canadian House of Commons of the 39th Parliament of Canada. The Conservative Party of Canada won the greatest number of seats: 40.3% of seats, or 124 out of 308, up from 99 seats in 2004, and 36.3% of votes:...

, the new government did not resurrect this bill.

Marc Emery extradition and trial (2005-2009)

The U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration

Drug Enforcement Administration

The Drug Enforcement Administration is a federal law enforcement agency under the United States Department of Justice, tasked with combating drug smuggling and use within the United States...

extradited Marc Emery

Marc Emery

Marc Scott Emery is a Canadian cannabis policy reform advocate, as well as a former cannabis seed seller. He is currently serving a five year sentence in a United States federal prison for selling cannabis seeds....

, a cannabis activist and former marijuana seed distributor from Vancouver

Vancouver

to the United States, where he was sentenced to 5 years in prison for "distribution of marijuana" seeds.
Though accused of laundering seed money from 1998 until his arrest in 2005, Emery paid provincial and federal taxes as a "marijuana seed vendor" totalling nearly $600,000.

Anti-drug strategy (2007)

In October 2007, during his first term in office, Prime Minister Stephen Harper

Stephen Harper

Stephen Joseph Harper is the 22nd and current Prime Minister of Canada and leader of the Conservative Party. Harper became prime minister when his party formed a minority government after the 2006 federal election...

announced a new national anti-drug strategy. Following the Conservative victory in the 2008 election

Canadian federal election, 2008

The 2008 Canadian federal election was held on Tuesday, October 14, 2008 to elect members to the Canadian House of Commons of the 40th Canadian Parliament after the previous parliament had been dissolved by the Governor General on September 7, 2008...

, the government reannounced the policy in February 2009. The proposed legislation would have dealers facing one-year mandatory prison sentences if they are operating for organized crime

Organized crime

Organized crime or criminal organizations are transnational, national, or local groupings of highly centralized enterprises run by criminals for the purpose of engaging in illegal activity, most commonly for monetary profit. Some criminal organizations, such as terrorist organizations, are...

purposes, or if violence is involved. Dealers would also face a two-year mandatory jail sentence if they are selling to youth, or dealing drugs near a school or an area normally frequented by youth. Additionally, people in Canada who run a large marijuana grow operation of at least 500 plants would risk facing a mandatory two-year jail term. Maximum penalties for producing cannabis would increase from 7 to 14 years.

Medical marijuana legislation

Health Canada

Health Canada is the department of the government of Canada with responsibility for national public health.The current Minister of Health is Leona Aglukkaq, a Conservative Member of Parliament appointed to the position by Prime Minister Stephen Harper.-Branches, regions and agencies:Health Canada...

permits marijuana for approved patients who can demonstrate a medical need for compassionate end-of-life care or debilitating symptoms. Chris Buors

Chris Buors

Chris Buors is a cannabis activist and politician in Manitoba, Canada. He became leader of the Libertarian Party of Manitoba in 2003, and oversaw the party's transformation to the Manitoba Marijuana Party in 2004...

, a marijuana activist

Activism

Activism consists of intentional efforts to bring about social, political, economic, or environmental change. Activism can take a wide range of forms from writing letters to newspapers or politicians, political campaigning, economic activism such as boycotts or preferentially patronizing...

, was sentenced to six months in jail in November 2004 after pleading guilty to cannabis distribution and marketing charges arising from his operation of the Manitoba Compassion Club which served patients suffering from a variety of illnesses.

Lynn Harichy was also put through the criminal courts for creating awareness for medical marijuana. Lynn suffered from multiple sclerosis and died on December 25, 2003.

The Vancouver plan

This is a draft by the city authorities in Vancouver

Vancouver

called Preventing Harm from Psychoactive Drug Use dated
November 2005, that aims to regulate the sale of cannabis.

Bill C-15/S-10: Mandatory Minimums for Cannabis (2009)

Legislation submitted by the Conservative minority government has moved in a new direction on cannabis towards increasing penalties on cannabis trafficking by introducing mandatory minimum sentencing. The legislation passed the House of Commons with the support of the Liberal Party of Canada, while both the NDP and Bloc Québécois

Bloc Québécois

The Bloc Québécois is a federal political party in Canada devoted to the protection of Quebec's interests in the House of Commons of Canada, and the promotion of Quebec sovereignty. The Bloc was originally a party made of Quebec nationalists who defected from the federal Progressive Conservative...

opposed the legislation.

The Senate sent the Bill back to the house. Stephen Harper prorogued parliament at the end of 2009 so the bill died, but it has been reintroduced as Bill S-10. Bill S-10 died in March 2011 as parliament was dissolved in a non-confidence vote.

Key court decisions

All of these decisions have invalidated the prohibition of marijuana based on the insufficiency of the exemptions provided for legitimate medical users of the drug. However, the laws have been and will probably continue to be modified in order to adapt them to constitutional requirements. As such, there is the possibility that a judge will uphold as valid a newer revision of the law. This also does not stop prosecutors from pursuing charges against marijuana users. Therefore, marijuana users cannot be assured that they will not be prosecuted for their use of the drug.

2000: R. v. Parker (Ontario Court of Appeal)

R. v. Parker was the landmark decision that first invalidated the marijuana prohibition. However the declaration of invalidity was suspended for one year. It concerned the case of an epileptic who could only alleviate his suffering by recourse to marijuana. The Court found that the prohibition on marijuana was unconstitutional as it did not contain any exemption for medical use.

2003: R. v. J.P. (Ontario Court of Appeal)

On 16 May 2003, the Ontario Superior Court found the accused party, "J.P.", not guilty. The appellate court ruled that the Medical Marihuana program's rules do not form a basis for the prosecution of J.P., as they do not themselves contain any effective prohibitions. (Read the decision HERE.)

The Crown appealed the decision of the Ontario Superior Court to the Ontario Court of Appeals. But in October 2003, the Court of Appeals upheld the invalidity of s 4 of the Controlled Drugs and Substances Act
Controlled Drugs and Substances Act
The Controlled Drugs and Substances Act is Canada's federal drug control statute. Passed in 1996 by the Chrétien government, it repeals the Narcotic Control Act and Parts III and IV of the Food and Drug Act and establishes eight Schedules of controlled substances and two Classes of precursors...

(CDSA) as it applies to cannabis, on the same grounds as those given by the lower court. The court stated, at paragraph 11 of its ruling:

(Read the decision HERE.)

The court's decision is a binding precedent for Ontario courts, but not for courts elsewhere in Canada. Thus, even though marijuana falls under federal jurisdiction, the legal status of marijuana is now different in Ontario than in other provinces.

2007: R. v. Long (Ontario Court of Justice)

The Ontario Court of Justice held in R. v. Long that the prohibition in the Controlled Drugs and Substance Act against the possession of marijuana were unconstitutional in the absence of an accompanying constitutionally acceptable exemption for medical marijuana. The current exemption depended on the government supplying marijuana, which it was only doing as a result of the policy. However, the policy did not impose a legal obligation upon the government to supply marijuana to those who needed it for medical purposes. The court held that without such an obligation, the exemption was constitutionally unacceptable, as access to marijuana depended on the implementation of a policy rather than the application of a law. If the government wanted to control the supply of marijuana, it had to impose an obligation upon itself to supply marijuana to eligible persons. The court held that if the government was obliged by law to supply marijuana in accordance with the policy, the exemption would be constitutionally acceptable.

A notice of appeal was filed by the Crown on August 23, 2007.

2007: R. v. Bodnar/Hall/Spasic (Ontario Court of Justice)

In R. v. Bodnar/Hall/Spasic, the Ontario Court of Justice followed the Long decision, holding that the prohibition against possession of cannabis in the Controlled Drugs and Substances Act
Controlled Drugs and Substances Act
The Controlled Drugs and Substances Act is Canada's federal drug control statute. Passed in 1996 by the Chrétien government, it repeals the Narcotic Control Act and Parts III and IV of the Food and Drug Act and establishes eight Schedules of controlled substances and two Classes of precursors...

is invalid and of no force or effect. Hon. Justice Edmonson stated in his ruling that "there is no offence known to law that the accused have committed."

2008: Sfetkopoulos v. Canada (Federal Court of Canada)

As of January 10, 2008, Justice Barry Strayer of the Federal Court of Canada

Federal Court of Canada

The Federal Court of Canada was a national court of Canada that heard some types of disputes arising under the central government's legislative jurisdiction...

struck down the federal regulations concerning the growing of medical marijuana by licensed producers.
Prior to the case, a producer was prohibited from growing for more than one person.
The Marijuana Medical Access Regulations require all medical marijuana users to obtain their prescription from a limited number of sources:

(1) Grown by that person.
(2) Produced by a designated individual for that person, or
(3) a licensed dealer.

At the time, there was only a single licensed dealer in Canada, which grew in Manitoba and processed in Saskatchewan, making it difficult to access. A multitude of users requested a single designate, of which all applications were denied except for one. This regulatory structure was, they argued, a violation of the Section 7 of the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms

Section Seven of the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms

Section Seven of the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms is a constitutional provision that protects an individual's autonomy and personal legal rights from actions of the government in Canada. There are three types of protection within the section, namely the right to life, liberty, and...

, because it forced sufferers to go through illicit channels to obtain medical marijuana, to which they were legally entitled. Thus, they were being forced to break the law in order to ensure their constitutionally-protected right to "security of the person."

The court agreed with this reasoning and struck down subsection 41(b.1) as being of no force or effect.

This, however, does not concern the non-medical use of marijuana.

2011: R. v. Mernagh (Ontario Superior Court)

On April 12th, 2011, Justice Donald Taliano found that Canada's Marijuana Medical Access Regulations (MMAR) and "the prohibitions against the possession and production of cannabis (marijuana) contained in sections 4 and 7 respectively of the Controlled Drugs and Substances Act" are "constitutionally invalid and of no force and effect" . The government was given 90 days (until July 11th) to fill the void in those sections, or the possession and cultivation of Marijuana would become legal in all of Canada. This includes the non-medical use of the drug.

The mid-July deadline was extended when federal government lawyers argued that current cannabis laws and regulations should stay in place until Ontario’s highest court could hear the appeal which has been scheduled for March 5th and 6th 2012. In granting the deadline extension, the Court of Appeal noted that “The practical effect of the decision if the suspension were permitted to expire on July 14 would be to legalize marijuana production in Ontario, if not across Canada.”

Positions of Canadian political parties

At a federal level, the Marijuana Party of Canada

Marijuana Party of Canada

The Marijuana Party is a Canadian federal political party. Its agenda consists of ending prohibition of cannabis. With the exception of this one issue, the party does not have "official policy" in any other area...

is leading the campaign for cannabis legalization. In the January 2006 federal election, the party received 9,275 votes (0.06% of the national popular vote). Provincial parties also exist, including the British Columbia Marijuana Party

British Columbia Marijuana Party

The British Columbia Marijuana Party is a minor political party in the Canadian province of British Columbia that advocates the legalisation of cannabis....

, Bloc pot

Bloc pot

The Bloc Pot is a provincial political party in Quebec, Canada that is dedicated to ending cannabis prohibition. It has contested three provincial elections but it has failed to win any seats in the National Assembly of Quebec. The party was launched in 1997 by Marc-Boris St-Maurice as a way to...

, Saskatchewan Marijuana Party

Saskatchewan Marijuana Party

The Saskatchewan Marijuana Party was officially registered as a political party in Saskatchewan, Canada, on June 7, 2006.Since that time, the party has arranged numerous events and raised awareness of cannabis issues in the province of Saskatchewan....

, and the Marijuana Party of Nova Scotia.

The Green Party of Canada

Green Party of Canada

The Green Party of Canada is a Canadian federal political party founded in 1983 with 10,000–12,000 registered members as of October 2008. The Greens advance a broad multi-issue political platform that reflects its core values of ecological wisdom, social justice, grassroots democracy and...

supports the legalization of cannabis.

The NDP

New Democratic Party

The New Democratic Party , commonly referred to as the NDP, is a federal social-democratic political party in Canada. The interim leader of the NDP is Nycole Turmel who was appointed to the position due to the illness of Jack Layton, who died on August 22, 2011. The provincial wings of the NDP in...

previously supported the legalization of the cannabis until former leader Jack Layton

Jack Layton

John Gilbert "Jack" Layton, PC was a Canadian social democratic politician and the Leader of the Official Opposition. He was the leader of the New Democratic Party from 2003 to 2011, and previously sat on Toronto City Council, serving at times during that period as acting mayor and deputy mayor of...

reversed his position on the issue on March 16, 2009. Prior to this, he had been highly in favour of legalization and was even interviewed in Marc Emery

Marc Emery

's home, praising marijuana as a "wonderful substance".
The official position of the NDP is in favour of decriminalization rather than legalization.

External links

News

The source of this article is wikipedia, the free encyclopedia. The text of this article is licensed under the GFDL.

Early drug prohibition

Cannabis prohibition

Cannabis refugees in Canada

Failed decriminalization bills (2002, 2004)

Marc Emery extradition and trial (2005-2009)

Anti-drug strategy (2007)

Medical marijuana legislation

The Vancouver plan

Bill C-15/S-10: Mandatory Minimums for Cannabis (2009)

Key court decisions

2000: R. v. Parker (Ontario Court of Appeal)

2003: R. v. J.P. (Ontario Court of Appeal)

2007: R. v. Long (Ontario Court of Justice)

2007: R. v. Bodnar/Hall/Spasic (Ontario Court of Justice)

2008: Sfetkopoulos v. Canada (Federal Court of Canada)

2011: R. v. Mernagh (Ontario Superior Court)

Positions of Canadian political parties

See also

External links