Julia Ratcliffe, a technical consultant with The Bug Factory, a company that supplies insects for natural pest control, examines marijuana plants for pests at the MediJean medical marijuana facility in Richmond, B.C., on March 21, 2014. The federal government has lost its latest attempt to prevent medical marijuana patients from growing pot at home.
Image Credit: THE CANADIAN PRESS/Darryl Dyck
December 16, 2014 - 7:02 AM
VANCOUVER - The federal government has lost its latest attempt to prevent medical marijuana patients from growing pot at home.
New rules were introduced earlier this year that prohibited home growing and instead shifted production to commercial operations, but a group of patients is challenging that regime.
Those patients won a court injunction earlier this year, allowing them to continue growing their own marijuana at least until their case is decided next year.
The government appealed, but the patients' lawyer, Kirk Tousaw, says the Federal Court of Appeal has upheld the injunction.
A three-judge appeal panel has also ordered the Federal Court to clarify the terms of the injunction, which leaves out certain patients.
Health Canada says it does not know how many patients continue to grow marijuana at home because of the injunction.
News from © The Canadian Press, 2014