Dr. Rob Kamermans of Coe Hill, Ontario, has lost his appeal to have criminal charges (related to his prescriptions of medicinal marijuana) against him dropped due to unreasonable delays to reach trial.
Dr. Kamermans’ defence argued that the 61 months he has been waiting to go to trial violated his rights as the Supreme Court has set 30 months as the maximum time for delays unless the case is particularly complex.
The defence acknowledged that while there was an 18 month delay as the doctor changed counsel, that still leaves a delay of over 40 months which the Crown should explain.
Justice Robert Scott did not agree and stayed the charges against the doctor.
The delay to reach trial is not the only issue either- Kamermans’ defence also has major concerns with the way search warrants were issued and executed on Dr. Kamermans’ practice and other places. They believe that since the search warrants were overly broad, they should not have been issued at all.
The doctor’s defence also takes issue with a vague law that supports one of the charges against the doctor and is related to three more of the forgery charges, saying, “A vague law raises some serious concerns because everyone should know with precision what is illegal and what’s not. That [law] is related to three of the forgery charges dealing with out-of-province medical marijuana applications.”
The charges span multiple provinces and include substance trafficking, fraud, forgery, proceeds of crime, and money laundering for the time period between January 2011 to April 2012- all linked to medical marijuana.
Dr. Kamermans was once known as Canada’s “top medical marijuana doctor” and we have covered and supported Kamermans’ case in the past.
In addition to the criminal charges, Dr. Kamermans’ medical license was revoked in July by the College of Physicians and Surgeons of Ontario, and he was also ordered to pay them $28,098. Kamermans appealed the punishment, and the hearing for that has been adjourned, awaiting the outcome of his criminal case.
In 2017, this case feels particularly unfair and counterintuitive, especially considering that marijuana will be legalized for recreational use in 2018.
What do you think?