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| 14 affidavits have now
been filed from the following people:
Dr Patricia Erickson, Senior Scientist with the Addiction Research Foundation, adjunct Professor in the Department of Sociology, and the Director of the graduate Collaborative Program in Alcohol, Tobacco and Other Psychoactive Substances at the University of Toronto. She is the author of a number of books including Cannabis Criminals: The Social Effects of Punishment on Drug Users (ARF Books, 1980), as well as co-editor of Illicit Drugs in Canada (Nelson Canada, 1988). She is also a founding member of the Canadian Foundation for Drug Policy.
Bruce Alexander, Professor of Psychology at Simon Fraser University. Professor Alexander specializes in the study of drug addiction and drug use, and authored Peaceful Measures: Canada's Way Out of the War on Drugs (University of Toronto Press, 1990). He is also a founding member of the Canadian Foundation for Drug Policy.
Neil Boyd, Professor of Criminology at Simon Fraser University and author of High Society: Licit and Illicit Drugs in Canada.
Professor Eric Single, Director of Policy and Research with the Canadian Centre on Substance Abuse, Professor of Preventive Medicine and Biostatistics at the University of Toronto. He is also a founding member of the Canadian Foundation for Drug Policy.
Dr Diane M Riley, Assistant Professor at the Department of Behavioural Science, University of Toronto, Policy Analyst at the Canadian Foundation for Drug Policy, former Senior Policy Analyst with the Canadian Centre on Substance Abuse. She has authored a number of papers on cannabis.
James Giffen, Retired Professor of Sociology at the University of Toronto, former consultant to the Addiction Research Foundation. Professor Giffen is the senior author of the extensive book Panic and Indifference: The Politics of Canada's Drug Law (Canadian Center on Substance Abuse, 1991).
Marie Andree Bertrand, retired Professor of Criminology at the University of Montreal, President of the International Anti-Prohibitionist League in Brussels, member of Canada's Commission of Inquiry into the Non-Medical Use of Drugs (the LeDain Commission, 1969 - 1973).
Heinz Lehmann, MD, Psychiatrist and Professor Emeritus at McGill University. Dr Lehmann was awarded the Alaska Award for psychopharmacological research, as well as the Order of Canada. In 1969, he was appointed to be a Commissioner for the Commission of Inquiry into the Non-Medical Use of Drugs (the LeDain Commission).
Dr Lester Grinspoon, Associate Professor of Psychiatry at Harvard Medical School. Dr Grinspoon has authored over 29 articles on various aspects of the use of cannabis, and was awarded the Alfred Lindesmith Award for Achievement in the Field of Scholarship. He has written two books on cannabis, Marihuana Reconsidered (Harvard University Press, 1971) and Marihuana: The Forbidden Medicine (Yale University Press, 1993), and he edits the Harvard Mental Health Letter.
Robert Randall, MA, President of the Alliance for Cannabis Therapeutics. Mr. Randall was the first person in the US to secure legal access to medical marijuana. He has lectured extensively before such groups as the American Bar Association, and has testified before the US House of Representatives and many state committees. He has edited six books, including Muscle Spasm, Pain and Marijuana Therapy, and Marijuana as Medicine: Initial Steps.
Dr John P Morgan, Professor of Pharmacology at CUNY Medical School. Dr Morgan has studied cannabis and its effects for more than 25 years, and has written and published eight articles pertaining to its use, including Exposing Marijuana Myths: A Review of the Scientific Evidence (The Lindesmith Centre, 1995).
Professor Hans Jorg Albrecht, from Dresden. He will outline recent developments in Europe with respect to cannabis decriminalization.
Gero Leson, PhD, Environmental consultant and researcher with the Nova Institute in both Germany and the US. Mr Leson has extensively researched the technical, economic and environmental characteristics of industrial hemp, and has co-authored a number of publications.
Gordon Scheifele, PhD, Research Scientist for the Ontario Ministry of Agriculture at Ridgetown College. Mr Scheifele is one of the few modern Canadian researchers permitted to grow and experiment with industrial hemp. |
Politically Incorrect:The Canadian Government isConstitutionally Challenged
By
Chris Clay
The Arrest
A society that robs an individual of
the product of his effort, or enslaves him, or attempts to limit the freedom
of his mind, or compels him to act against his own rational judgement...
a society that sets up a conflict between its edicts and the requirements
of man's nature is not a society, but a mob held together by institutionalized
gang-rule.
- Ayn Rand
One morning this past
December, as I was preparing for the busy Christmas holidays, I was rudely
interrupted by an armed cohort of peace officers that were preparing to
break down the door to my home, to look for flowers.
They swiftly searched
our quiet house in the suburbs, and upon finding a single gram of dried
marijuana, hauled me off to prison for four days.
Simultaneously, Hemp
Nation employee Sarah Delaney opened my retail store, only to find a gang
of police officers waiting patiently to take her to jail for trafficking
in a narcotic.
The police were not
looking for cocaine, LSD, heroin or PCP. These cops invaded my home and
business, arrested Sarah and I, and seized our Christmas stock all because
we sold marijuana seeds.
I found this very surprising,
since Hemp Nation has openly sold seeds on many occasions for two years.
In fact, last summer one cop even mentioned to me that he liked our new
full-page seed ad in a local magazine.
We had a good relationship
with the police, especially since they solved a break-in and returned the
stolen pipes and bongs. So why this sudden harassment? Why did the police
divert scarce resources to spend an entire day looting my store, while
a bank robbery was being committed only a block away?
The answer lies in
a legal challenge that I am involved in with Toronto Osgoode Hall law professor
Alan Young and his associate Paul Burstein.
The Challenge
"Canadians have a constitutional
right to make autonomous decisions with respect to their bodily integrity
and security... It is a violation of the principles of fundamental justice
for Parliament to criminalize conduct which is relatively harmless."
- Professor Alan Young
In May 1995, I was arrested
for the first time because I began selling small cannabis plants in my
London, Ontario hemp store. After selling four plants, the drug squad arrived,
laid all kinds of charges and seized my inventory.
Fortunately, I had
met Professor Young once before and he had indicated that I should contact
him if I ever ran into legal problems. Several days after my release, I
drove to Toronto to meet with Paul and Alan, and they were both very interested
in using my case as a vehicle to demonstrate that Canada's cannabis laws
are unconstitutional. Alan explained to me that he had been preparing for
such a legal challenge for more than ten years.
Not much happened for
a while. I restocked the store, started a legal defense fund, and made
some minor court appearances. However, news of the challenge spread through
the legal system, and finally the federal Department of Justice stepped
in to directly handle the case. Soon after, they offered me a sweet deal:
plead guilty to possession of marijuana, receive a discharge, and all the
other charges would be forgotten. In exchange, I would forfeit the seized
inventory and agree to drop the constitutional challenge.
I flatly refused, and
the momentum has been building ever since.
The Witnesses
"If the truth can be told so as to
be understood, it will be believed!"
- William Blake
Professor Young has
spent the last year contacting scientists and researchers in the fields
of marijuana and drug use from across North America. So far, 14 witnesses
have already filed affidavits in support of the challenge, and more are
being prepared. After reading the testimony, presented so clearly and concisely
by such respected professionals, I find it impossible to believe a reasonable
judge can ignore such overwhelming evidence.
If enough money is
raised, all of the people listed in the sidebar will likely testify in
person at the constitutional challenge.
If more money is raised,
additional witnesses will be called. Possibilities include William F Buckley
and former prime minister Pierre Trudeau.
The Politics
"If you are the big tree, we are the
small axe."
- Bob Marley
During my time in the
Big House this past December, aside from watching TV and reading trash
magazines, I had a chance to reflect on recent events. I haven't had a
chance to relax like that for some time, so I didn't mind chillin' for
a few days.
I quickly realized
that I was in jail again not because the local police had suddenly deemed
cannabis seeds to be a deadly narcotic; rather, they were acting under
orders from the Department of Justice to turn up the heat. I will soon
receive another offer from the Feds, encouraging me to drop the challenge
in exchange for an easy way out.
Thus my freedom was
taken from me yet again, not as a direct result of my criminal behaviour,
but because the state senses a threat to their proud tradition of cannabis
prohibition. There has never been such a comprehensive legal challenge
of Canada's marijuana laws, and most of our witnesses have even worked
for the government at one time or another.
These days, everyone
is fed up with prohibition, from senators to scientists, from teachers
to taxi cab drivers, from grandparents to grandchildren. Statistics Canada
confirmed again in 1994 that over 69% of Canadians support legalization
or decriminalization of cannabis, and yet the politicians simply aren't
listening.
Professor Young has
been preparing to crush cannabis prohibition for more than a decade. I
have been fighting these laws since opening Canada's first hemp store in
1993. Many of the witnesses have been calling for cannabis reform since
the $3.5 million LeDain Commission recommended decriminalization back in
1973. These laws are irrational and unjust, and change is about 74 years
overdue.
If nothing else comes
from this trial, we hope to educate Canadians and spark an honest nationwide
debate on the marijuana issue, free from the hysterical myths espoused
in the past. Finally, we hope to remind the government that they have broken
a basic equation that they must follow; government exists to protect our
rights, not violate them.
"It is not true that the function of law is to regulate our consciences,
our ideas, our wills, our education, our opinions, our work, our trade,
our talents, or our pleasures. The function of the law is to protect the
free exercise of these rights, and to prevent any person from interfering
with the free exercise of these same rights by any other person."
- Frederic Bastiat
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