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Michael Santos is a normal guy. With zero arrests to his name, this professional audio engineer lived a quiet life on the coast of Canada (near Vancouver) with his wife and two kids.
Santos, who suffers from an unknown medical calamity, was also growing 414 marijuana plants, a decent but not obscene amount of cannabis. Santos was charged with possession of nearly three kilograms of marijuana with intent to traffic.
Santos pled guilty to the charges, but last week, a judge fulfilled Santos’ request for a full discharge, citing Santos’ medical need of the marijuana.
But the judge granted Santos’ request for an absolute discharge, noting Santos was an otherwise law-abiding, respected member of the community and a good family man, so his crime was one of very low moral culpability, akin to violating a regulation.
“His conduct was not dangerous or antisocial and recent polls suggest that a majority of Canadians do not believe such conduct should be the subject of criminal sanctions,” the judge said.
Santos was growing the marijuana for himself and for other nearby patients, but did not have the medical exemption to grow plants (he now does). Fortunately, this high-minded judge overlooked Santos’ lack of an exemption and focused on Santos’ clean record, honest intentions, and general life as a “law-abiding, respected member of the community and a good family man.”
The judge also noted Santos’ medical condition (while not stated) clearly qualified him to grow the plant for medicinal purposes. Needless to say, this Canadian judge possesses a moral compass that he used to outweigh foolhardy marijuana laws and quickly turned Santos from a criminal to an innocent, wiping out the offense from his record.
The judge added that law makers should seriously consider amending or repealing Canada’s marijuana laws, to bring them in line with today’s values.
“When it becomes common for persons of good character to willingly and knowingly conduct themselves in violation of a law, which is widely seen to be unwarranted or unjust or unfair, this should cause those who enact our laws and who are tasked with enforcing or upholding the law to give serious consideration to the repeal or amendment of that law to bring it into accord with modern social values,” Challenger said. [Metro News]
The aptly named judge Joanne Challenger has made her opinion clear by issuing a pretty direct challenge to Canada’s political pot-dilemma. Let’s hope someone listens, and ideally, lets Challenger set the rules.
Santos, who suffers from an unknown medical calamity, was also growing 414 marijuana plants, a decent but not obscene amount of cannabis. Santos was charged with possession of nearly three kilograms of marijuana with intent to traffic.
Santos pled guilty to the charges, but last week, a judge fulfilled Santos’ request for a full discharge, citing Santos’ medical need of the marijuana.
But the judge granted Santos’ request for an absolute discharge, noting Santos was an otherwise law-abiding, respected member of the community and a good family man, so his crime was one of very low moral culpability, akin to violating a regulation.
“His conduct was not dangerous or antisocial and recent polls suggest that a majority of Canadians do not believe such conduct should be the subject of criminal sanctions,” the judge said.
Santos was growing the marijuana for himself and for other nearby patients, but did not have the medical exemption to grow plants (he now does). Fortunately, this high-minded judge overlooked Santos’ lack of an exemption and focused on Santos’ clean record, honest intentions, and general life as a “law-abiding, respected member of the community and a good family man.”
The judge also noted Santos’ medical condition (while not stated) clearly qualified him to grow the plant for medicinal purposes. Needless to say, this Canadian judge possesses a moral compass that he used to outweigh foolhardy marijuana laws and quickly turned Santos from a criminal to an innocent, wiping out the offense from his record.
The judge added that law makers should seriously consider amending or repealing Canada’s marijuana laws, to bring them in line with today’s values.
“When it becomes common for persons of good character to willingly and knowingly conduct themselves in violation of a law, which is widely seen to be unwarranted or unjust or unfair, this should cause those who enact our laws and who are tasked with enforcing or upholding the law to give serious consideration to the repeal or amendment of that law to bring it into accord with modern social values,” Challenger said. [Metro News]
The aptly named judge Joanne Challenger has made her opinion clear by issuing a pretty direct challenge to Canada’s political pot-dilemma. Let’s hope someone listens, and ideally, lets Challenger set the rules.
