The Canada medical marijuana laws have been the subject of both medical and political debate over a number of years. The prohibition of this drug was first challenged in the counts by Terrance Parker in 1997. Terrance Parkers made his challenge on the basis that he required the drug for health purposes. The legal wrangling continued until July 2000, when the Court of Appeal for Ontario suspended the ban for a year. In the same year the Canadian Government started to grow a supply of marijuana for medical purposes in Manitoba.
Shortly after the Government started the project in Manitoba in July 2001 the Marijuana Medical Access Regulations (MMAR) were being introduced. The regulations made it possible for more Canadian residents to qualify to obtain the drug from a designated supplier, a distributor of Government-grown supplies or grow their own.
The MMAR right to issue authorization allowing possession of this drug for health purposes was challenged in the Ontario Supreme Court in January 2003. The Court upheld the constitutional standing of the MMAR, but declared it unconstitutional on issues relating to sourcing and supply of the drug on health grounds.
The possession of this drug for health purposes is restricted to three categories of patients. Anyone with a terminal illness and a life expectancy of less than a year can apply to Health Canada for authorization. As can individuals suffering specific symptoms normally associated with conditions such as multiple sclerosis, spinal cord injury or disease, AIDS and HIV, some forms of arthritis and epileptic seizures and severe pain. The final category simply states symptoms from another serious medical condition not covered in the other two categories.
Patients applications are submitted to Health Canada and must be accompanied and supported by declarations from their health practitioners. If approved applicants decide to grow their own supply or designate an individual to grow it on their behalf, they and their designated person are required to apply for a licence.
Designated growers must be a minimum of 18 years of age and will receive a licence and identification card authorizing them to grow marijuana on behalf of a named patient. The amount of marijuana plants that can be grown in a year is capped and designated grower is given a limited number of seeds. Patients who have had their application approved cannot hold more than a 30-day supply at any one time.
The federal laws in the US continue to treat possession of this drug as an illegal act. However several states have relaxed that law and allow growing and distribution for individuals with a doctors certificate supporting their requirement. That is contrary to the Supreme Court ruling that individual charged with violating federal drug laws will not be able to put forward a defence of use for medicinal purposes.
That Supreme Court ruling caused the Canadian Government to adopt an interim policy in 2003, allowing the sale of this drug and the seeds to those who meet the medical criteria and their designated grower. The Federal Government to this day continues to appeal against that interim policy.
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