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Crown appeal allowed; conditional discharge for employee of illegal psilocybin storefront varied to suspended sentence.
The Crown appealed a conditional discharge imposed on the respondent, an employee at an illegal psilocybin storefront, who pleaded guilty to possession for the purpose of trafficking and possession of proceeds of crime.
Police seized over 126 kg of psilocybin.
The Superior Court of Justice found the sentencing judge erred in principle by suggesting the respondent might not have known the enterprise was illegal, which contradicted the essence of his guilty pleas.
The appeal court also found the conditional discharge demonstrably unfit given the large quantity of drugs and the need for denunciation and deterrence.
The appeal was allowed and the sentence varied to a suspended sentence.
Banning authorized medical cannabis derivatives was arbitrary and unconstitutional under section 7.
The Court dismissed the Crown's appeal and held that restricting lawful medical marihuana possession to dried form unjustifiably violates section 7 of the Charter.
The prohibition was arbitrary because it undermined health and safety by forcing some patients toward riskier or less effective treatment methods.
The remedy declared sections 4 and 5 of the Controlled Drugs and Substances Act to be of no force and effect only to the extent they prohibit authorized persons from possessing cannabis derivatives for medical purposes, without suspension.
