Quebec Court rules that government ban on homegrown pot plants is constitutional.
Quebec’s prohibition on possessing and growing cannabis plants for personal uses is constitutional, Canada’s high court said Friday April 14, 2023.
In a unanimous decision, the Supreme Court of Canada ruled that the Constitution allows Quebec to put into action the restrictions that do not impede the objective of the federal Cannabis Act. Cannabis owners can now grow up to four plants at home, according to the new federal law.
Justice Richard Wagner wrote in an opinion for the court that the “objectives of the provincial act as well as its prohibitions are in harmony with the goals of the federal act and there’s no basis for determining a conflict of purposes.
In 2018, Canada passed the Cannabis Act, decriminalizing the recreational use of Cannabis across the country. Shortly thereafter, Quebec passed its own law prohibiting the possession of cannabis plants, with fines ranging from $250 to $750.
The Quebec court said its law is a legitimate use of its powers concerning subjects under extraordinary provincial jurisdiction. merely local or private property and civil rights.
Wagner said the Quebec legislation has a unique approach compared with federal law, but the same objectives, to lessen the presence of criminals in the cannabis industry and restrict homegrown marijuana.
Quebec Court rules that government ban on homegrown pot plants is constitutional.
Quebec’s prohibitions are meant to guarantee the effectiveness of its state-run cannabis monopoly that is created to prevent and reduce damage from marijuana by limiting consumers ‘options, the court said.
“The provincial government was of the viewpoint that, by adding to the creation of one market, the complete prohibitions against cultivation and possession in the home will serve to restrict trafficking in cannabis from unlicensed sources, “wrote Wagner.
“it isn’t this court’s role to determine which of the two strategies — banning personal production or even tolerating it — is almost certainly to reduce illicit activities related to cannabis.”
Manitoba is also banning homegrown cannabis, similar to what Quebec has done.
But the Court dismissed an appeal by Janick Murray Hall, a Quebecer who successfully challenged the provincial ban in Quebec’s Superior Court in 2019, arguing that federal law ought to prevail over the provincial ban.
The attorney general of Quebec appealed the decision and win it in September 2021. Then Murray-Hall appealed before the Supreme Court.
Murray-Hall’s attorney, Maxime Guerin, told The Canadian Press the decision embodies the concept that Quebec is able to connect cannabis with public health.
“It confirms Quebec’s right being a little independent and different in its method of approaching this issue,” Guerin stated Friday. There’s definitely some disappointment, but it’s the decision of the supreme court, it is a constitutional choice, and we don’t have a lot of choices but to depend on it, “she said.
Quebec Justice Minister Simon Jolin – Barrette stated in a tweet Friday that the provincial government is happy with the decision.
“The Cannabis Regulation Act seeks to safeguard the health and safety of Quebecers, particularly our young people,” Jolin Barrette wrote Jolin – Barrette, stating the ruling confirms “the complete capability to act of Quebec in this regard. “Quebec is going to always defend its competencies.”
