Canada’s top court upholds Quebec’s ban on homegrown cannabis

By Moira Warburton

(Reuters) -The Canadian Supreme Court ruled on Friday that Quebec’s provincial ban on cannabis grown in private homes is constitutional, in a blow to cannabis advocates who said it was at odds with a federal law allowing a small number of plants to be grown for personal use.

The country’s top court sided with the Quebecois provincial government, who banned cannabis plants grown at home after Canada legalized weed federally in 2018.

Federal law states that a limited number of plants grown at home for personal use is legal, but Quebec law bans this.

In its ruling released on Friday, the court said that the provincial ban is intended to “ensure the effectiveness of the state monopoly on the sale of cannabis in order to protect the health and security of the public,” rather than to frustrate federal law.

The ban was first challenged by Janick Murray-Hall in 2019. He won in Quebec’s Supreme Court, but that ruling was overturned by the province’s court of appeals, bringing it to the Supreme Court of Canada.

Quebec Justice Minister Simon Jolin-Barrette said provincial laws regulating cannabis aim to protect the health and safety of Quebeckers, especially young people.

“We are satisfied with the judgment of the Supreme Court confirming Quebec’s full capacity to act in the matter,” he said on Twitter.

Other provinces, including British Columbia and Ontario, intervened in the case to support Quebec, given that the issue could have impacted whether provincial or federal legislation is given precedent in the eyes of the court.

(Reporting by Moira Warburton in Washington; Editing by Chizu Nomiyama)