By Owen Smith Since the Supreme Court ruling earlier this year that consummated our six year constitutional challenge, I’m commonly asked by people how I feel. It’s easy to say that I am very happy with the outcome insofar as it has helped innumerable people that I have never met escape unnecessary suffering. For those […]
Tag: extract trial
Extract Trial: BC Court of Appeal
(image CKNW) Many of the arguments presented to the BC Court of Appeal were recently repeated in Ottawa before the Supreme Court of Canada. You can watch the footage of the SCC hearing online HERE. The Court shortly after ruled in our favor in a Unanimous 7-0 Decision, read about it HERE By Owen Smith After the morning session […]
RvSmith Fundraising Wrap-up
By Owen Smith The long road of trials that made up the six year RvSmith constitutional challenge was about as successful as such a legal quest can be. The Supreme Court of Canada delivered a landmark ruling that affirmed patients rights to choose a logically safer form of their medicine. I was found not guilty and the […]
Explaining Cannabis Concentrates
Originally posted on Lift! By Owen Smith As jurisdictions in the United States and around the world begin to repeal aspects of cannabis prohibition, the emerging businesses and production facilities have begun to introduce a higher standard for cannabis derivative products. Testing laboratories have the ability to isolate and reject contaminants and meet requirements for […]
Deciphering R.v.Smith
Government Issues Section 56 Exemptions By Owen Smith The landslide 7-0 decision from the Supreme Court of Canada in my favour is now a landmark in the landscape of Canadian cannabis litigation. The facts that we assembled form a fortified field position for further advancements against the forces of cannabis prohibition. While the war wages […]
High Court Heroics
By Ted Smith (editors note: Health Canada has since made a response to the Smith ruling, read about it HERE) Cries of relief and outrage could be heard across Canada early in the morning, last June 11. Tears of joy streamed down many faces as news spread about another blow to cannabis prohibition, though not […]
The Extract Trial: Issue of Standing
(Title image: Vancouver Sun) (This is part of a series of blogs by Owen Smith on the Medical Cannabis Extract Trial) On a cold December morning, 4 years after my arrest, I attended the BC Court of Appeal to witness the oral arguments of the two crown prosecutors and my lawyer, Kirk Tousaw, in front […]
The Extract Trial: Kirk Tousaw
By Owen Smith Kirk Tousaw is one of Canada’s top Cannabis lawyers. Born in the state of Michigan, Kirk has been an advocate for cannabis legalization since high school. He obtained a degree in Political Theory and Constitutional Democracy before moving to Vancouver in 2002. There he completed his Masters thesis on the “Malmo-Levine case” […]
Historic Extract trial Hits Ottawa
Decision Should Radically Change How Cannabis Is Used As Medicine In Canada ”Would you confine your points to things that really matter!” This was the last thing Chief Justice Beverley McLachlin said to crown lawyer Paul Riley before Riley quickly closed his arguments. It was an appropriate ending to a special morning in the Supreme Court […]
The Extract Trial: Not Guilty
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 […]