YOU TELL EM ALAN!!! and away we gooooo! 
A Toronto marijuana retailer heads to court Thursday morning, hoping to convince a judge that many of the charges laid after last year's wide-ranging Project Claudia raids are unconstitutional.
Mark Stupak, the owner of the SoCo Medical Social Collective, was charged in May, 2016 with possession of marijuana for the purpose of trafficking, and possession of the proceeds of crime — more than $5,000 in cash.
"This is one of the last times I have a chance to, frankly, embarrass the government
about how careless they've been in taking seriously the issue of medical marijuana," Young told CBC Toronto.
Alan Young, professor at Osgoode Hall Law School and a founder of The Innocence Project, is scheduled to launch a constitutional challenge to the Project Claudia raids in court Thursday morning. (Lisa Xing/CBC News)
"Unfortunately, they've always seen it as an excuse for recreational use. They haven't taken it seriously."
But at least one legal expert is questioning the validity of his argument.
Bill Bogart, a law professor at the University of Windsor and the author of Off the Streets: Legalizing Drugs, told CBC Toronto Wednesday that for the most part, medicinal marijuana can only be sold by licensed producers who deliver their product by mail — not by retailers selling pot over the counter.
In June, 2015, the Supreme Court of Canada ruled that medicinal pot users should be allowed access to a variety of marijuana products — oil, for example — rather than simply dried leaves.
Lawyer and author Bill Bogart says the constitutional challenge could be an uphill battle. (Grant Linton/CBC News)
But it took Ottawa until August of 2016 to put those new rules in place.
In the meantime, Young will argue, marijuana retailers had the moral authority to fill the void by providing products to medicinal users over the counter.
"That whole grey zone is a very apt metaphor, but the reality is there's law and there's morality, and sometimes they don't converge. But that doesn't mean you abandon your moral choices.
"We believe the constitution protects those who do what the government has failed to do."
Mark Stupak, who runs medicinal marijuana dispensaries in Toronto, was one of the people arrested during the Project Claudia raids in May, 2016. (Lisa Xing/CBC News)
But Bogart said it's possible the challenge is really a strategy designed to raise the profile of retailers, as the province puts the finishing touches on a distribution plan for legalized recreational marijuana, expected to happen next year.
"Retailers have not fared well in the courts, in the courts of public opinion and now in the proposed regulatory scheme Ontario has put forward," he said.
"It may be that the court case is a way of drawing attention to what they want, and building support."
In May of 2016, Toronto police raided 43 storefront pot distributors, as part of Project Claudia. More than 90 people — including Stupak — were arrested, and 186 charges were laid.
'Labelled as criminals'
Stupak told CBC Toronto on Monday that Claudia was "really disturbing.
"The people who were charged were labelled as criminals. We were being slandered so we had to spend the time to prepare a decent constitutional challenge, and separate medical [marijuana] from recreational."
Neither the Toronto police nor the federal government's Public Prosecution Service of Canada would speak with CBC Toronto about the validity of the constitutional challenge.
With files from Lisa Xing
A Toronto marijuana retailer heads to court Thursday morning, hoping to convince a judge that many of the charges laid after last year's wide-ranging Project Claudia raids are unconstitutional.
Mark Stupak, the owner of the SoCo Medical Social Collective, was charged in May, 2016 with possession of marijuana for the purpose of trafficking, and possession of the proceeds of crime — more than $5,000 in cash.
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"This is one of the last times I have a chance to, frankly, embarrass the government
about how careless they've been in taking seriously the issue of medical marijuana," Young told CBC Toronto.
Alan Young, professor at Osgoode Hall Law School and a founder of The Innocence Project, is scheduled to launch a constitutional challenge to the Project Claudia raids in court Thursday morning. (Lisa Xing/CBC News)
"Unfortunately, they've always seen it as an excuse for recreational use. They haven't taken it seriously."
But at least one legal expert is questioning the validity of his argument.
Bill Bogart, a law professor at the University of Windsor and the author of Off the Streets: Legalizing Drugs, told CBC Toronto Wednesday that for the most part, medicinal marijuana can only be sold by licensed producers who deliver their product by mail — not by retailers selling pot over the counter.
In June, 2015, the Supreme Court of Canada ruled that medicinal pot users should be allowed access to a variety of marijuana products — oil, for example — rather than simply dried leaves.
Lawyer and author Bill Bogart says the constitutional challenge could be an uphill battle. (Grant Linton/CBC News)
But it took Ottawa until August of 2016 to put those new rules in place.
In the meantime, Young will argue, marijuana retailers had the moral authority to fill the void by providing products to medicinal users over the counter.
"That whole grey zone is a very apt metaphor, but the reality is there's law and there's morality, and sometimes they don't converge. But that doesn't mean you abandon your moral choices.
"We believe the constitution protects those who do what the government has failed to do."
Mark Stupak, who runs medicinal marijuana dispensaries in Toronto, was one of the people arrested during the Project Claudia raids in May, 2016. (Lisa Xing/CBC News)
But Bogart said it's possible the challenge is really a strategy designed to raise the profile of retailers, as the province puts the finishing touches on a distribution plan for legalized recreational marijuana, expected to happen next year.
"Retailers have not fared well in the courts, in the courts of public opinion and now in the proposed regulatory scheme Ontario has put forward," he said.
"It may be that the court case is a way of drawing attention to what they want, and building support."
In May of 2016, Toronto police raided 43 storefront pot distributors, as part of Project Claudia. More than 90 people — including Stupak — were arrested, and 186 charges were laid.
'Labelled as criminals'
Stupak told CBC Toronto on Monday that Claudia was "really disturbing.
"The people who were charged were labelled as criminals. We were being slandered so we had to spend the time to prepare a decent constitutional challenge, and separate medical [marijuana] from recreational."
Neither the Toronto police nor the federal government's Public Prosecution Service of Canada would speak with CBC Toronto about the validity of the constitutional challenge.
With files from Lisa Xing
