That's what the Chrétien government gets for cutting corners.

In July of 2000, the Ontario Court of Appeal declared that Canada's law prohibiting simple possession of marijuana was unconstitutional, because it denied sick people the right to use an effective drug to treat nausea from chemotherapy, intraocular pressure from glaucoma and other such pain. The court gave Parliament a year to amend the law, failing which it would be invalid in Ontario.

The cabinet, cavalierly bypassing Parliament, simply adopted a regulation to that effect. Somebody noticed. A judge of the Ontario Court agreed this week that the grace period has expired, that Parliament did not amend the law, that a cabinet regulation did not meet the required standard and that the law against possession is therefore invalid in the province. Ottawa is appealing the ruling.

Beyond highlighting the government's disdain for Parliament, the case reminds us of the problems with a system that makes criminals of thousands of Canadians for possessing small quantities of a psychotropic drug. Rather than appeal, Ottawa should just amend the law to exempt medicinal marijuana -- and prepare the way for the overdue decriminalization of all simple possession of cannabis.