12 S e p t e m b e r 2 0 1 4 w w w . C A N A D I A N L a w y e r m a g . c o m
a
s Canada's Liberal government eyes a ticketing system for the possession
of small amounts of marijuana, the legal battle brewing over weed today is
one of who will control the supply and distribution of marijuana for med-
ical users. "We don't see nearly as many charges," says veteran B.C. criminal lawyer
John Conroy, who has spearheaded battles to reform marijuana laws over the past
40 years. He has watched the decline in individuals charged with possession arriv-
ing at his Abbotsford law shop seeking legal relief from criminal prosecution.
Instead, for lawyers like Conroy the battle has shifted to protecting the rights of
medical marijuana users to have their own secure supply under Health Canada issued
regulations. The 2001-introduced Marihuana Medical Access Regulations (MMAR)
provided medical users the right to grow their own marijuana or obtain it through a
designated grower or government agency. The access program was repealed in 2013
with the new Marihuana for Medical Purposes Regulations (MMPR), which took effect
in April 2014, and allocated supply and distribution to large-scale commercial growers
known as licensed producers.
"We have had the MMAR and they have resulted in numerous legal challenges over
the past 10 to 12 years and now the government has created the MMPR, and, that has
created all this work," says Conroy, and with licensed producers there looms even the
prospects of more work in the future. "There is certainly a lot of consulting work for
marijuana becoming a
game changer
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