[420 Girl]

Canada - An Elmsville man can see the end of his legal travails following proceedings in St. Stephen provincial court.

Judge David Walker handed Adam Troy Dickerson, 28, a conditional sentence of six months for growing and possession of marijuana. He will serve the sentence in the community, rather than in jail, as long as he abides by the terms of the conditional sentence order, Walker ruled.

The conviction will not prevent him from renewing his licence from Health Canada to grow marijuana for medicinal use, the judge determined. After consulting with each other during a break, federal Crown prosecutor Peter Thorn and defence counsel Joel Hansen agreed that Dickerson could still renew his medical use licence despite this conviction.

The RCMP charged Dickerson with the two drug offences, plus unsafe storage of a firearm, after searching his home in October 2008. He pleaded guilty.

On Hansen's advice, he later applied for a permit to grow and use marijuana for pain under the federal Marijuana Medical Access Regulation. Dickerson suffers from spondylitis, a disorder of the vertebrae.

Health Canada granted the permit, but the rules don't allow people convicted of designated drug offences after getting these licences to renew them. The Canadian court system doesn't enter convictions, technically, until sentencing - after Health Canada granted Dickerson his licence.

Hansen argued that Walker should stay the charges to prevent what he called an "absurd" outcome.

Until the federal government enacted the medical use regulation, judges sometimes stayed drug charges to allow people to use marijuana medicinally, both lawyers and the judge agreed Tuesday.

With the regulation in place, judges should issue these stays far more rarely, Thorn argued. Walker agreed. He declined to issue a stay in this case.

The designated offences for refusing to renew medical use permits don't include production and simple possession, Walker said. A trafficking offence would have been another matter, he and the lawyers agreed.

With no evidence before the court on whether Dickerson grew the marijuana for recreational use, medicinal purposes or for trafficking, the court must give him the benefit of the doubt, Thorn conceded.

He argued for a jail sentence, but didn't object to Dickerson's serving it conditionally in the community.

"We have a gentleman who was growing a substantial amount of marijuana," Thorn said.

The RCMP seized 125 grams or marijuana plus 38 plants. Dickerson's medical user licence allows eight plants, Thorn said.

"The message is: Look at the regulation, see your doctor and do it the right way," he said.

In the conditional sentence order, Walker ordered Dickerson attend an assessment and, if ordered, take counselling for addiction issues and exploring alternatives to pain control.

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