Medical marijuana patients in Canada won a major victory today, as a Federal Court judge ruled they’re once again legally allowed to grow their own medicine.
Judge Michael Phelan’s ruling on Wednesday struck down the federal regulations introduced by Stephen Harper’s former Conservative government that restricted medical marijuana patients from growing their own cannabis. Phelan found the regulations failed to improve public safety, according to CBC Vancouver reporter Jason Proctor.
You can read the full decision here.
The federal government now has six months to come up with new rules. Justin Trudeau’s Liberal government has promised to regulate and legalize recreational marijuana, though that promise has yet to materialize.
Previous regulations introduced in 2013 required patients to buy their cannabis from licensed producers. Letting patients grow their own medical marijuana is a cheaper, more humane option, according to some, than being forced to buy it from government or corporate sources.
In a related development, last week HRM Regional Council voted for a staff report to investigate the impact of the smell of medical marijuana facilities. The request was born out of complaints made by Timberlea-Beechville-Clayton Park residents to area councillor Reg Rankin.
