Criminal Defence Law Blog
The City of Toronto squared off last week in court against a chain of illegal marijuana dispensaries (“Canna Clinic”) and their owners in a bid to shut the stores down once and for all. The City sought an interim and interlocutory injunct
Source: Toronto’s Bid for Injunction Against Marijuana Dispensaries Under Reserve – Slaw
It’s still a terrible idea, but it may no longer run you the risk of having your driver’s licence suspended and car impounded
Source: Canada set to remove drunk canoeing as an impaired driving offence
ARREST AND PROFIT – Two former chief cops becoming cannabis middlemen. So those cops who were in charge of arresting and giving thousands of Canadians a criminal record for possessing marijuana are now getting into the business for personal profit … as cops continue to arrest us. Does this seem right to you?
Source: Weed Wire | Canada | Former top cops Fantino, Souccar launch marijuana-services business
WHEN THE POLICE DON’T KNOW THE LAW – Another unlawful strip search, another crumbling criminal case. “Nothing in Mr. MacPherson’s pants was running away,” “The officers were ignorant of the law,” the judge wrote. Police failed to follow the case law and their own policies on strip-searching.
A judge has found Toronto police had no reasonable grounds to pull back a man’s pants and boxer shorts at the scene of his arrest to locate drugs concealed near his tail bone.
Source: Judge tosses drug evidence, finds Toronto cops were ‘ignorant’ of strip search law | Toronto Star
The government plan for legalization and regulation of cannabis ignores this significant form of the product and aspect of the market.
MPs studying the government’s cannabis legalization bill heard Friday that excluding edible products from next year’s planned rollout will mean the black market will continue to supply them. A final day of witnesses also included pot activists Jodie and Marc Emery.
Source: Delaying legal edible cannabis products won’t keep them off street, MPs told – Politics – CBC News
LEGALIZATION? Not really. No plans for pardons. Possession is still criminal over 30 grams for adults or 5 grams for youth. Sharing a joint is still a serious criminal offence. And in the interim police will continue to raid storefronts and arrest and charge people for simple possession. Not a good plan.
Teenagers passing joints to slightly younger friends could face sentences of up to 14 years in jail, according to an Ottawa lawyer who testified at hearings on the federal government’s bill to legalize marijuana.
Source: Proposed pot law too harsh on young people, lawyer argues – Ottawa – CBC News
SERIOUSLY? Comments like the industry is run by criminals (duh) and police talking about “how are we going to find out if a person has more than 4 plants in his residence, makes it sound like legalization will bring more police oppression through dynamic entries and more drug charges as the government tries to take over the market.
Senior Canadian police officials tell MPs studying the government’s marijuana legalization legislation that police won’t be ready to enforce new laws by next summer and they ask the government for more time.
If anything over the next few years, the legalized sale of marijuana stands to fatten the golden goose that is the black market rather than kill it.
Source: Pot black market wider and deeper than government’s half-hearted plans: Hébert | Toronto Star
HALIFAX: Lorne Grabher, whose personalized GRABHER licence plate was deemed “socially unacceptable” by the Nova Scotia Registrar of Motor Vehicles, will be in court on Wednesday, September 6, 2017 …
It’s all wrong. It’s backward. We need to deal with the demand side. This proudly violent war on the supply side has unconsidered consequences.
With the biggest drug bust in Ontario history—$250-million—the province’s cocaine supply may have just gotten more dangerous.
Source: How Massive Busts Could Create More Harm for People Who Use Drugs
