A lawyer who says he represents hundreds of Hamilton medical marijuana patients believes police violated a court order by shutting down city pot shops.
Jack Lloyd says Hamilton police "cherry-picked" legislation to suit their goal of raiding marijuana dispensaries. He argues police relied on provincial laws when they should be abiding by a judge's ruling allowing pot shops to distribute medical marijuana to licensed patients.
"Hamilton police have overstepped their jurisdictional authority," says Lloyd, a Toronto-based lawyer with expertise in cannabis law. He plans to take them to court over it.
This chapter in the complicated saga of Canadian marijuana legislation began in August 2017 when Justice Thomas Lofchik of the Superior Court handed down an order allowing Hamilton Village Dispensary on King Street East to remain open to sell marijuana and marijuana products to those with prescriptions, while preventing sales to recreational users. Lloyd was the lawyer in that case and saw Lofchik's order as a victory for vulnerable marijuana patients who cannot easily access Canada's mail-order pot program.
"Precarious housing" makes it difficult for many marijuana patients to receive government issued cannabis, Lloyd says. Shelters generally do not allow Canada Post to deliver pot to their clients. And patients who couch surf or are homeless have no fixed address and therefore cannot have their prescriptions delivered, he says.
Computer access and bank accounts can also be barriers to mail-order access.
Lloyd interprets the judge's ruling as allowing for "compassion club" shops to dispense cannabis to licensed patients.
However, months after that court order, the province passed its Ontario Provincial Cannabis Control Act. It is Sect. 18 of that act ("Interim closure of premises") that Hamilton police have used to raid and close numerous shops across the city, some of which, according to Lloyd, were "medical only" shops.
The Superior Court ruling should trump the provincial legislation, Lloyd argues on both legal and ethical grounds.
"The harm is to the patients," he says. "They are a group of sick people with very urgent needs.
He adds that he doesn't believe police are intentionally infringing on the rights of patients. But that is the outcome, nonetheless.
Hamilton police see things differently. In a statement to The Spectator, the service says:
"We fail to understand how Justice Lofchik's ruling, which could not have considered the legislation (since it didn't exist), could stand for the propositions that Mr. Lloyd has put forward.
"The Hamilton Police Service will continue to apply and enforce the law as it currently stands."
Lloyd says he has been approached by a group of more than 1,000 Hamilton patients — who call themselves Medicinal My Way — to represent their interests by taking the issue back to court to ask for an injunction against the police raids.
The alternative, he says, is for Hamilton city council to issue temporary licences to compassion clubs that would be in effect until the federal government completes the process of issuing its own permanent licences — which could take years.
The City of Hamilton's communications office provided a statement on the issue, which perhaps lends more confusion to the matter:
"The licensing of cannabis shops is a provincial matter and not within the City jurisdiction," says the statement.
On its website, Medicinal My Way says it has reached out to Mayor Fred Eisenberger and other city councillors on this issue, but has received "no response."
Medicinal My Way also makes the point that Hamilton is "already a leader in health care and health sciences" and could be "one of the first cities leading the way for improved cannabis patient care."
Jack Lloyd says Hamilton police "cherry-picked" legislation to suit their goal of raiding marijuana dispensaries. He argues police relied on provincial laws when they should be abiding by a judge's ruling allowing pot shops to distribute medical marijuana to licensed patients.
"Hamilton police have overstepped their jurisdictional authority," says Lloyd, a Toronto-based lawyer with expertise in cannabis law. He plans to take them to court over it.
This chapter in the complicated saga of Canadian marijuana legislation began in August 2017 when Justice Thomas Lofchik of the Superior Court handed down an order allowing Hamilton Village Dispensary on King Street East to remain open to sell marijuana and marijuana products to those with prescriptions, while preventing sales to recreational users. Lloyd was the lawyer in that case and saw Lofchik's order as a victory for vulnerable marijuana patients who cannot easily access Canada's mail-order pot program.
"Precarious housing" makes it difficult for many marijuana patients to receive government issued cannabis, Lloyd says. Shelters generally do not allow Canada Post to deliver pot to their clients. And patients who couch surf or are homeless have no fixed address and therefore cannot have their prescriptions delivered, he says.
Computer access and bank accounts can also be barriers to mail-order access.
Lloyd interprets the judge's ruling as allowing for "compassion club" shops to dispense cannabis to licensed patients.
However, months after that court order, the province passed its Ontario Provincial Cannabis Control Act. It is Sect. 18 of that act ("Interim closure of premises") that Hamilton police have used to raid and close numerous shops across the city, some of which, according to Lloyd, were "medical only" shops.
The Superior Court ruling should trump the provincial legislation, Lloyd argues on both legal and ethical grounds.
"The harm is to the patients," he says. "They are a group of sick people with very urgent needs.
He adds that he doesn't believe police are intentionally infringing on the rights of patients. But that is the outcome, nonetheless.
Hamilton police see things differently. In a statement to The Spectator, the service says:
"We fail to understand how Justice Lofchik's ruling, which could not have considered the legislation (since it didn't exist), could stand for the propositions that Mr. Lloyd has put forward.
"The Hamilton Police Service will continue to apply and enforce the law as it currently stands."
Lloyd says he has been approached by a group of more than 1,000 Hamilton patients — who call themselves Medicinal My Way — to represent their interests by taking the issue back to court to ask for an injunction against the police raids.
The alternative, he says, is for Hamilton city council to issue temporary licences to compassion clubs that would be in effect until the federal government completes the process of issuing its own permanent licences — which could take years.
The City of Hamilton's communications office provided a statement on the issue, which perhaps lends more confusion to the matter:
"The licensing of cannabis shops is a provincial matter and not within the City jurisdiction," says the statement.
On its website, Medicinal My Way says it has reached out to Mayor Fred Eisenberger and other city councillors on this issue, but has received "no response."
Medicinal My Way also makes the point that Hamilton is "already a leader in health care and health sciences" and could be "one of the first cities leading the way for improved cannabis patient care."
