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January 15, 2012 – The Liberal Party of Canada has voted to legalize pot.

Seventy-seven per cent of delegates at the Liberals’ biennial convention told their party’s leadership Sunday morning that they want a future Liberal government to legalize marijuana.

Their interim leader Bob Rae acknowledged the war on drugs hasn’t worked, but told reporters the party’s caucus would have to study the implications of the resolution.

“Frankly, the status quo doesn’t work and that’s what needs to change,” Rae said. “The Liberal Party is saying that the current laws do not work and that we need a new direction.”
It’s now up to us to take that resolution and see exactly what it will mean in terms of policy, because there are some practical questions that we have to look at,” Rae added, noting in French that one such issue would be how to control the supply of legalized pot.

Rae insisted he was at ease defending the principles of the resolution and that he would work with the membership on the issue in the months and years ahead as the party drafts its next election platform.

“I accept that it is the will of the party that was expressed and as leader we will continue to work together,” Rae said.

During a debate on the floor of the Ottawa convention hall, one Liberal delegate, a police officer, told the crowd Canada’s drug policy was misguided.

“This country does not need more prisons, it needs less criminals,” he said.

The resolution, which was brought forward by the party’s youth wing, calls upon a Liberal federal government to legalize, regulate and tax marijuana production, distribution and use while enacting “strict penalties for illegal trafficking, illegal importation and exportation, and impaired driving.”

The resolution also calls for significant investments in prevention and education programs on the harms of marijuana and amnesty for Canadians convicted of simple possession in the past.

Samuel Lavoie, the president of theYoung Liberals of Canada, said he wasn’t sure the resolution would make it into the Liberal party’s next election platform, but that he hoped it would not be ignored.

“I think everyone in the party, not only the interim leader (Bob Rae), but everyone in the party, recognizes that there were 3,000 Liberals here this weekend and that this is a motion which, however controversial, passed with more than 75% of support, so I think it would be difficult for anyone to just ignore the result and the will of the membership,” he said.

Liberals should stop being scared of any soft on crime label the Conservative Party might give the party, Lavoie added.

“The Conservative staffers in the Prime Minister’s office will never vote for the Liberal party,” Lavoie said. “We are talking to Canadians, the fact is this is a sensible policy, an evidence-based policy that is very easy to defend and polls show that we have a majority of support amongst Canadians. There is a cross-partisan support amongst non-conservative voters for this. So we feel like this is something that will get us votes not lose us votes,” he said.

More than 1,400 delegates took part in the vote. If Liberal members re-affirm the motion in two years during another policy process, the Liberal leader will still have the right to veto any part of the election platform under current rules. By Althia Raj. Source.

November 29, 2011 – A Toronto man vowed to challenge a city bylaw that he said stops people from growing medical marijuana at home, on the same day a charge against him was dropped for creating a fire hazard by growing pot in his apartment.

Although William Palmer was charged under the Fire Protection and Prevention Act, his lawyer Paul Lewin said he plans to challenge the bylaw that he said bars marijuana growing in the city. Mr. Palmer lives in a Toronto Community Housing apartment near Dundas and Sherbourne Streets.
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Mr. Lewin said that for people who need medical marijuana, the bylaw goes against equality rights set out in the Charter and the Ontario Human Rights Code.

“The bylaw doesn’t leave any room for medical marijuana growing at all,” Mr. Palmer said at Old City Hall court on Monday, shortly after the charge against him was dropped.

Mr. Palmer has a licence from Health Canada to grow medical marijuana to help him deal with symptoms caused by his HIV medication.

Court heard that the city withdrew the charge because it’s not a matter of justice to pursue the case. The city did not immediately respond to requests for comment.

“Even [Toronto community] housing will not give me the permission to grow, but yet the government of Canada says I can grow,” Mr. Palmer said.

Mr. Palmer, 48, said that between October, 2008, and last year, fire, city or community housing officials came into his apartment and took away his plants and shut off the electricity three times.

He stopped paying his rent when the electricity wasn’t turned back on after the third incident, leading to his eviction and moving to his dad’s place next door. He said he’s not growing pot there.

Using pot eases the severe nausea and depressed appetite that come with taking HIV medication, Mr. Palmer said. He’s seeking upward of $50,000 in compensation for damages to his plants.

“The right to grow marijuana for medicine is a well-established right, this isn’t anything cutting edge,” Mr. Lewin said. “The law in Ontario is crystal clear. No one should have to choose between their health and the law.”

Mr. Lewin said he filed the challenge months ago and had asked that it be heard on Tuesday, the day before Mr. Palmer’s fire hazard charge was dropped. He said it’s expected to go to the Superior Court in the spring.

Since Mr. Palmer is on the Ontario Disability Support Program, he can only afford to grow rather than buy, Mr. Lewin said.

“The real issue here, I think, isn’t so much the specific details of this case. It’s the fact that there are people, lots of people, in this catch 22.”
By Cary Mills. Source.