Canada’s Cannabis Journal since 2010
By Owen Smith In April 2012, our argument for extracts had been successful in the BC Supreme Court, effectively legalizing medicinal cannabis extracts for federally licensed patients, and eventually their caregivers, in British Columbia. However, the judge ruled that my trial should proceed regardless of the constitutional victory because “society’s interests in having the charges […]
(image: bubbleman fresh headies) By Owen Smith Our key expert witness during the extract trial in 2012 was Dr. David Pate. His expertise in cannabis botany would help the court understand how and where the cannabis plant produces its’ medicinal compounds. This would help us show that the restriction to dried marihuana is arbitrary and […]
By Ted Smith When Owen Smith was arrested for baking cookies over 5 years ago, there was no doubt in my mind that history was being made. Since that fateful day, when he walked out of the apartment with no handcuffs and his head held high, Owen has been a modern hero. At the press […]
By Owen Smith Two years after I had been arrested and charged in the act of making cookies, lozenges, gel caps, and massage oils with cannabis infused vegetable oils, we would begin the trial that would hear the constitutional challenge that was recently before the Supreme Court of Canada. After Ted Smith testified, Gayle Quin, Gina Herman […]
By Kirk Tousaw I recently had the privilege of arguing the R v. Smith medical cannabis extract case before the Supreme Court of Canada. That case involves whether the government’s medical cannabis regime violates the Charter because it restricts patients – even those who have qualified for exemptions from the general prohibition due to medical […]
Thomas Szasz’s Iconoclastic Views on Cannabis and Everything Else We Like Thomas Szasz (1920-2012) was a psychiatrist and academic known for his libertarian views: the right to freedom of choice arising from the principle of self-ownership. No government, he wrote, is going to be dedicated to freedom. It is the nature of government to […]
The Victoria Cannabis Buyers Club (V-CBC) is the beating heart of the Extract Trial. With thousands of active members, the discreet downtown Victoria dispensary founded by Ted Smith has served medical cannabis patients since 1996. The club barely skipped a beat after I was arrested and has since expanded and improved upon their product line. […]
Liam McKnight is one of the many Canadians who benefit greatly from the use of extracted cannabis products. It was my honor to meet Liam and many other medical cannabis patients at the Supreme Court of Canada in Ottawa last weekend. The RvSmith extract trial that I recently brought to the Supreme Court of Canada has […]
By Ted Smith Last Friday March 20 was a dream come true for myself and many other cannabis activists. Normally I would say you had to be there, but in this case there is actually a recording that will forever show the government dismally fail in its defense of the medical cannabis regulations. Over the […]
By Owen Smith In this series of Blogs I am telling the story of the constitutional challenge to grant medical patients access to cannabis derivatives and extracts. I wouldn’t be in this position at all if it wasn’t for Canadian activist Ted Smith. Ted was my boss at the time I was arrested making a […]