A proposed national class action suit has been filed in Federal Court against Health Canada seeking to have proposed changes to the medical marijuana laws declared unconstitutional.
Four representative plaintiffs – Neil Allard, Tanya Beemish, David Herbert and a person identified only as J.M. – all from B.C., commenced the litigation Friday in Vancouver.
Allard has been “medically retired” since 1999; Beemish is an unemployed woman on a disability pension whose common-law husband, Herbert, grows her cannabis; and J.M. is described only as an unemployed person on a permanent disability pension since 1979.
They are seeking relief from the court on behalf of between 35,000 and 40,000 Canadians who have a permit exempting them from Criminal Code prohibitions against possession and production of pot under the medical marijuana access program established in 2001.
In the statement of claim, lawyer John Conroy says the vast majority grow their own but that 4,250 of those patients rely upon someone else to grow their medication.
Roughly 6,000, he said, are buying marijuana from Prairie Plant Systems, the sole government-approved supplier under the present system.
– Read the entire article at The Vancouver Sun.
