Maybe. But probably not.

Ontario's highest court ruled this morning that the law that prohibits the possession of marijuana is unconstitutional. Ottawa has one year to amend the law, or there will no longer be any law against possession of weed for anyone in Ontario.

The law must be amended to "prevent unnecessary charges against sick people," that is, make it legal for Ontarians to use medicinal marijuana.

Of course, I don't know much about Canadian law, so I wonder if this is similar to the laws passed in six US states that legalize medicinal marijuana at the state level but are not recognized federally.


UPDATED: This is actually a big deal because the marijuana laws in Canada are the same for all of the Provinces. So, while it is only a provincial court, the Canadian Feds can appeal the decision. But if they don't, the ruling takes effect in all of the Nation to the North.

Why is this a big deal? That's Canada, not here, right?

Because the US tries to influence the world in marijuana policy, and if Canada joins the group of people giving the US government the one finger salute (our own neighbors! How could they?!) it makes it that much harder for them to keep their propaganda campaign going.


ShadowNode:
That's right - drug testing is pretty much marijuana testing anyway you put it, and a violation of privacy. If you smoke on a Saturday, you still test positive on Monday, hours (and weeks) after the effects have worn off. It should be of no business to my employer what I do on my weekends if I come to work alert and able to do my job!

Lots of interesting things happening in Ontario on this subject.

The Ontario Court of Appeal recently ruled that employers may not test their employees for marijuana, as it is a violation of their human rights. They are only allowed to test for impairment while on the job.
Yes, I said marijuana because of the subject of the node, but the ruling was for all drugs.

I've never been bothered about it either. All that legalization would do for me is making it available from 7-11 or whatnot.
In all my years of living and puffing in Canada I have never had a problem smoking pot. Many police officers think its a pain to arrest somebody for possession and the three times I have been confronted by the police they have either said "don't do this in public" or outright left me alone. I have had a few friends that have actually been arrested and they had to write essays and one of them donated some money to charity to show he was a decent person. In all the cases in which people I know were arrested it was because the car stank of pot when the police pulled them over or because they were smoking in a public place right out in the open (which is kinda rude anyway if you think about kids and stuff) I hope they make pot legal but it doesn't really matter either way, it's basically legal right now.

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