On April 12, 2011 the Ontario Superior Court ruled that Canada's medical marijuana system violated the Charter rights of Matt Mernagh, a medical cannabis user charged for growing cannabis.  The Ontario Superior Court noted the lack of access for those who need medical cannabis demonstrated that the federal medical cannabis system was broken, and thus violated his rights of liberty and security of the person under Section 7 of the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms.  For more on the Ontario Superior Court's decision read here.  The Ontario Superior Court ruled that the federal government had 90 days to reform the system to address the numerous problems found in the ruling, and if they failed to act the current prohibition on possession and production of cannabis would no longer be in effect.  The Government has served notice of appeal, meaning this case will continue on, and may or may not lead to the much needed reform of Canadian medical cannabis policy.

We saw an interesting reaction from the media.  Though this specific case is addressing the medical cannabis system, several mainstream newspapers ran editorials calling for an end to the criminalization of cannabis.  This reform can take many shapes, but they all argue these reforms are long overdue.

Updated!

There's only a few more days in the current federal election campaign.  On May 2, 2011 the campaign will end and the votes will be tallied.  Have you figured out how you plan to vote?

We thought we'd bring you a little summary of the main parties' positions so far when it comes to drugs and drug policy.