Trial Delayed Again For
Canadian MS Patient Lynn Harichy Until Ruling On Parker Case
(Marijuananews note: Everyone keeps passing the
Canadian buck, and the pressure for change continues to mount. And the reporting gets
friendlier.)From the London Ontario Free Press
letters@lfpress.com
http://www.canoe.ca/LondonFreePress/home.html
November 18, 1998
By Don Murray, Free Press Court Reporter
See
Ontario Editorial
Is In No Hurry to Arrest MS Patient Harichy, Nor In Any Hurry for Justice
for a really dumb editorial from the same paper and links to other stories about Harichy.
TRIAL OF MARIJUANA CRUSADER DELAYED BY WAIT FOR RULING
Pot crusader Lynn Harichy had her trial postponed again yesterday while the Ontario
Court of Appeal continues to ponder a long-awaited decision on another
marijuana-as-medicine case.
Harichy, a 37-year-old Londoner who sat on the police station
steps and lit up a joint last year to protest marijuana laws, says she needs the illegal
weed to ease the spasms and pain of multiple sclerosis.
She is facing one charge of possessing marijuana and now has had two scheduled trials
postponed while waiting for the appeal court.
Federal prosecutor David Rowcliffe told Judge Kathleen McGowan yesterday that with the
defence’s consent the case will be adjourned to Feb. 3 to set a new trial date.
It is hoped that the appeal court ruling will be in by then because "it may
determine the outcome of this case," he said.
The top court is considering the case of Terry Parker, a 43-year-old Toronto epileptic
who came out on top legally after being busted for cultivating marijuana in 1996.
In a precedent-setting Charter of Rights and Freedoms case, a
Toronto judge ruled Parker has a medical need to smoke marijuana. The judge ruled the best
way for Parker to get a supply was to grow it. The Crown immediately appealed.
See
The Lancet reports on the
Terry Parker case."Canadian Judge Allows Marijuana as Therapy"
The judge stayed charges of cultivation and possession against Parker, but convicted him
of trafficking because he admitted giving a joint to other seizure sufferers. He was
sentenced to time served and put on probation for a year.
Also bound for the appeal court is the case of former Londoner Christopher Clay, who
was convicted of possessing and selling marijuana after a highly publicized trial last
year.
Now living in Vancouver, Clay is crusading for the legalization of pot on the grounds
that maintaining it as a criminal substance violates the Charter.
Copyright: 1998 The London Free Press a division of Sun Media Corporation.
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