Vancouver Glaucoma
Patient Succeeds With Medical Necessity Defense;
Also Supplying Buyers' Club -- 2 Articles
(Ed. note: This case may have the effect of
creating the de facto legalization of medical marijuana in Vancouver, which will bring
more pressure on the national government.)See
Canadian Court
Declines To Rule On Right To Medical Marijuana
and
Judge In Krieger
Case Delays Sentencing To Get More Information On Medical Marijuana
From the Vancouver Sun
sunletters@pacpress.southam.ca
http://www.vancouversun.com/
September 8, 1998
By Rick Ouston
JUDGE OKAYS ILL MAN’S MARIJUANA USE
A Vancouver man who, police say, grew up to $50,000 worth of marijuana in his basement
has been granted a discharge by a judge who believed his argument that he used the drug to
battle glaucoma.
Stanley Czolowski, charged by police with producing and
trafficking in three kilograms of marijuana last August, admitted he was guilty but
successfully argued that marijuana is the only substance that allows him to combat the
crushing pain and nausea that are side-effects of his condition and the prescription
medications he must ingest.
In the transcript of a decision released to his lawyer, John Conroy, late last week and
obtained exclusively by the Vancouver Sun, provincial court Judge Jane Godfrey said she
accepted that Czolowski used and trafficked in the restricted drug.
The litany of problems suffered by 44-year-old Czolowski
because of his condition—including pressure in the eyeball, deteriorating vision,
nausea from other drugs, lack of appetite and crushing fatigue—was a powerful
argument against banning marijuana from people who use it medicinally, she said.
"I have heard from the accused and I have read the material that is filed in terms
of what his daily existence is like, and I have no difficulty whatsoever in understanding
his personal motivation and I have extreme sympathy for his personal situation," she
said.
In a judgment that appears to be the first of its kind in Canada,
she granted him a discharge both for possession and trafficking. Czolowski was selling his
home-grown pot to the Compassion Club, a Vancouver group that distributes free or low-cost
marijuana to people suffering from diseases ranging from glaucoma to cancer, AIDS and
epilepsy.
An Ontario justice ruled in December that Canada’s marijuana laws unfairly denied
the right of a Toronto epileptic to an effective medication for his condition, but Terry
Parker had been charged only with possession, not trafficking.
See
The Lancet reports on the
Terry Parker case."Canadian Judge Allows Marijuana as Therapy"
In the Vancouver ruling, Judge Godfrey took the Parker decision into consideration,
saying the judge in that case had ruled that denying Parker possession of marijuana did
little or nothing to enhance the state’s interest in better health for a member of
the community.
She wrote: "I have considered the facts before me and the
case law and in all of the circumstances I am satisfied it’s not contrary to the
public interest, notwithstanding the volume involved, and certainly it’s in the
interests of the accused to grant him a discharge, and I do so conditional on his entering
into a probation order to keep the peace and be of good behaviour for a period of one
year. Those are the only terms of the order."
Godfrey also noted that her stance on pot applied only to medicinal marijuana.
"I should indicate that I consider this case to be unique on its facts," she
said. "This is not an open invitation to others to follow the accused’s
approach, absent medical problems of their own."
Lawyer Conroy, who has also represented clients arguing a constitutional challenge of
the country’s pot laws, told the court he would try to get a doctor to prescribe
marijuana to Czolowski, a way to circumvent the federal law restricting access to
narcotics and other drugs from general use.
Court was told that police raided Czolowski’s rented Marpole home in August 1997,
acting on a tip. In the basement they found hydroponic equipment, 14 full-size pot plants,
20 small plants from five to 30 centimetres tall and 28 infant plants a few centimetres
tall. Police estimated the value of the plants at $35,000 to $50,000.
Czolowski, a freelance photographer and silversmith, produced medical evidence at his
trial showing he suffers from a type of glaucoma called open-angle, which causes
deterioration of vision, a condition he believes he inherited from his father, Ted, who
also worked as a photographer and suffers glaucoma.
Although he receives no criminal record and was given no jail
time or fines -- marijuana cultivation can be punishable by up to seven years in prison,
while the maximum penalty for trafficking is life—police did seize and retain about
$2,500 worth of growing equipment, Czolowski’s wife, Trudy Greif, said.
Pot Decision No Joy For Accused
September 9, 1998
From the Vancouver Province
provedpg@pacpress.southam.ca
http://www.vancouverprovince.com/newsite/news-c.html
By Holly Horwood, staff reporter
POT DECISION NO JOY FOR ACCUSED
Charges, court case ‘extremely stressful’
The Vancouver man behind a precedent-setting court decision over trafficking in
medicinal marijuana isn’t jumping for joy.
Stanley Czolowski, 44, who received a conditional discharge—no criminal record, no
jail time, no fines—for using and selling marijuana for health purposes, isn’t a
happy camper.
"It’s been extremely stressful," complained Czolowski, who had $2,500
worth of growing equipment seized by police and must agree to "keep the peace"
for a year.
"I live basically a life of poverty. I’m struggling to keep my head above
water, and cannabis has always helped me with my situation . . . it’s difficult
now."
Czolowski, who pleaded guilty, could have received up to life imprisonment.
But at a one-day sentencing hearing before provincial court Judge Jane Godfrey,
Czolowski’s lawyer, John Conroy, said his client used marijuana and traditional
medicine to treat problems of glaucoma.
No appeals have been filed from either side.
"I have no difficulty whatsoever in understanding his personal motivation and I
have extreme sympathy for his persional situation," concluded Godfrey.
Czolowski also sold his home-grown pot—police estimate the value of his plants at
up to $50,000 -- although Czolowski disputes the figure.
Down at the Compassion Club, an east Vancouver storefront lounge
that distributes pot—some of it from Czolowski’s plants—as well as holistic
medicine and services to its mainly female clientele, the ruling is being greeted with
joy.
"It’s a tremendous decision, allowing people to take personal responsibility
for their own health and the growth of their own medicine," said Erin Coyle, who
helps run the non-profit club.
Godfrey made it clear she considers the case unique.
But her decision shocked Vancouver RCMP Sgt. Chuck Doucette,
the provincial co-ordinator with the force’s drug-awareness program.
"I can understand a judge being supportive, but it’s another issue altogether
when he’s selling to other people," said Doucette, who wants to talk to
prosecutors about the evidence they presented.
"It [trafficking] is clearly against the present Canadian laws, so the
judge’s decision is very surprising."
Supported