From the desk of DPNC Board member, Andy Bigras
When Nick Bala started chemotherapy, he asked his doctor for something to help with the nausea and vomiting that followed each treatment.
After about four months, Bala asked his doctor for a prescription for medicinal marijuana.
“I found that it made a huge difference to the nausea,” Bala said Wednesday. “For me and many other people, it made chemotherapy much more bearable. It’s very important this be made available to people who are suffering.”
An Ontario court ruling this week may make that reality sooner rather than later.
An Ontario Superior Court judge found marijuana cultivation and usage laws unconstitutional and gave the federal government three months to respond to the decision.
But Bala isn’t leaping for joy yet, knowing that the government may appeal the ruling.
“This could be before the courts for years,” said Bala, a law professor at Queen’s University.
On Monday, the Ontario Superior Court declared the rules that govern medical marijuana access and the prohibitions laid out in sections 4 and 7 of the Controlled Drugs and Substances Act “constitutionally invalid and of no force and effect,” effectively paving the way for legalization. If the government does not respond within 90 days with a successful delay or re-regulation of marijuana, the drug will be legal to possess and produce in Ontario, where the decision is binding.
The ruling stemmed from the constitutional challenge of Matthew Mernagh, a man who relies on medical marijuana to ease pain brought on by fibromyalgia, scoliosis, seizures and depression.
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