From: johnturmel@yahoo.com   
      
   TURMEL: Federal Court Justice Brown's best medpot comments   
      
   JCT: The Crown took a great beating at the Terry Johnsgaard   
   hearing on Jan 5 2018 but Justice Brown's comments were the   
   cheeriest. So I've culled just his best comments from   
   yesterday's transcript post to cheer up the team.   
      
   Judge Brown:. there is an underlying application that's set   
   out in your Statement of Claim that you want certain   
   declaratory right in connection with delay and the loss and   
   the back-dating that occurs. And I direct that the Crown   
   deal with that in its motion to strike. And you will have a   
   chance to address that in your response to the motion to   
   strike which will be filed by Lead Plaintiff Mr. Harris on   
   behalf of the group. I would expect Mr. Harris would be in   
   touch with you. That's not before us today.   
      
   Judge Brown: Mr. Bricker, I have to say, this is not the   
   first time the court has been asked for emergency relief   
   caused by alleged delay on the part of Health Canada in   
   processing these renewals. I had one not long ago and had to   
   do the same thing. And again, the permit was produced the   
   day of the scheduled hearing, or the day before, whatever,   
   and I am not really,   
   I think, I suggest there may be more efficient ways to do   
   this rather than conduct urgent sittings of the court   
   because of the fact that where there's a renewal, the person   
   has the right to produce and to keep a certain quantify of   
   cannabis for medical purposes. When that renewal expires, he   
   or she is subject to criminal sanctions including fines and   
   imprisonment, as you know, thereby engaging their section,   
   likely engaging if they have it in their possession,   
   engaging their Section 7 interests.   
   And one of the issues here is the sort of notice given to   
   these people who had made the application: what sort of   
   internal timelines are there? what mechanisms are there to   
   make sure applications are processed in a timely way so that   
   people know what to expect? and also so that the Crown   
   through, whatever reason, doesn't put people in jeopardy of   
   fines and imprisonment through the delay, an unreasonable   
   delay perhaps, in issuing these permits. So..   
      
   Judge Brown: I see the originating application as different   
   from a renewal. It may be fair game to say that where you   
   have no permission at all, you can, funds permitted,   
   purchase from a third party producer so that issue of   
   availability can be answered in some other way.   
   But where you have an application (Registration) in hand,   
   and you have produced marijuana, you've grown it, you have   
   accumulated and stored it, the moment your Application   
   (Registration) expires, you're then in possession of   
   marijuana product. So it's not that availability is a   
   problem, in a sense, availability is the problem. You now   
   are in possession of cannabis contrary to the CDSA and   
   liable to fines and imprisonment. That's the concern I have   
   with the renewals.   
      
   Judge Brown: Did I hear you say that the Authorization to   
   Produce, after it's expired, gives rise to a continuing   
   authority to possess?   
   Jon Bricker: No. Sorry, if that's what it sounded like. It   
   wasn't my..   
   Judge Brown: So the authority to possess expires with the   
   authority to produce.   
   Judge Brown: Right. Not to belabor the point but I'm   
   envisioning this as people who have this authority from the   
   Government of Canada under these regulations to produce   
   their own and keep it in some quantity. And the moment that   
   license expires, they are then faced with, are liable to   
   fines and imprisonment because they have that material still   
   in hand without permission.   
   Jon Bricker: The regulations require that upon expiry, if   
   you're not authorized, that the product be destroyed.   
   Judge Brown: Right. So the second question is then: how long   
   and how far in advance should they should apply? I just   
   happen to have an Immigration case coming up where there's   
   an old Designated Person Production License issued in 2012.   
   That's the original license. On the front page, it says that   
   renewal applications should be submitted at least 8 weeks   
   prior to the expiry date! So the individual has some sort of   
   notice of how long he or she should be expected to wait. Is   
   there anything being done in this situation on the internet   
   or on these forms that say: you've got to bring these   
   applications 6-8-10 whatever weeks in advance of the expiry   
   day?   
      
   Judge Brown: On the immigration side, it tells you that if   
   you want a visa, it's going to take you "x" months. If you   
   want a humanitarian, a compassionate, from inside Canada,   
   it's going to take you "x" months. And if you're flying from   
   this country to that country, it's going to take this and   
   that. And so there is some information, something people can   
   hang their hat on and determine whether they're inside or   
   outside. Obviously, if there are complications, it takes   
   longer. But those are thoughts I have. I don't know how many   
   more we're going to get.   
   I'm concerned it's January 5th, I've had this for a month   
   and  half and I have to say, I'm a little concerned about   
   the courts acting as, sort of having to step in and enforce   
   rights that have already been declared.   
      
   Judge Brown: I'll start off by saying that this is not the   
   first time this Court has been asked for emergency relief   
   allegedly caused by delay on the part of Health Canada in   
   processing applications to renew Personal Production Permits   
   under the ACMPR.   
   In this case, the Applicant obtained a 1-year Personal   
   Production Permit on Feb 1 2017 which would and did expire   
   on Jan 19 2018. He says he applied for its renewal on Oct 26   
   but I accept that his renewed application is dated Nov 29,   
   less than 2 months before his original period permit   
   expired. That said, upon the expiry of his permit, he became   
   liable to fine and imprisonment. Note these are criminal   
   sanctions if he did not destroy product on hand. This could   
   engage Liberty interests protected by S.7 of the Charter.   
   As of Jan 24 2018, the Applicant did not know if his renewal   
   application was granted or refused and so he came to this   
   Court seeking emergency relief.   
   As a result of today's urgent hearing and the Defendant's   
   filing earlier today, we now know the Applicant's permit was   
   renewed on Jan 22 2018 and sent to him by regular mail.   
   That said, and as mentioned that this is not the first time   
   such emergency relief has been sought from the Federal   
   Court, and in addition, this not the first time an urgent   
   hearing has been scheduled by the Court to address delay.   
   I'm not satisfied the proceeding as we have today and on the   
   other occasions mentioned is an entirely efficient way to   
      
   [continued in next message]   
      
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    * Origin: you cannot sedate... all the things you hate (1:229/2)