CROWN TO APPEAL PROPOT DECISION

Pot smoker Terry Parker's lawyer says he's been told the Crown is going to
appeal a controversial ruling which granted the Toronto man the right to
smoke marijuana for health reasons.

Parker, 42, had charges of possession and cultivation stayed on Dec. 10
when a provincial court judge ruled he needed to smoke pot for medical
reasons.

In Parker's case, pot use was deemed medically necessary because it helps
alleviate his epileptic seizures.

The decision was seen as a landmark ruling because it found sections of the
Controlled Drug and Substance Act were unconstitutional under the Charter
of Rights and Freedoms.

Parker's lawyer, Aaron Harnett, said yesterday he's been told by the Crown
that a challenge to Judge Patrick Sheppard's ruling will be heard before a
threejudge panel of the Ontario Court of Appeal sometime in the new year.