The Canadian federal government lost on appeal Monday in a case where the Justice Department had sought to overturn a lower court ruling that granted licensed medical marijuana producers the right to grow for more than one patient. Monday's loss paves the way for an end to the existing system of a government-enforced monopoly for supplying medical marijuana patients.

Under the Canadian medical marijuana program, set up after previous federal court rulings that Canada's failure to provide for access to marijuana for medical purposes invalidated the entire marijuana law, each patient must obtain his or her marijuana from a unique grower or else resort to the government's designated monopoly supplier. But patients have complained that the federal medical marijuana is of inferior quality.

A group of 30 patients challenged the regulations in court. They argued that the federal marijuana supply was weak and that they should have the right to choose their own source of medicine. They wanted to be able to legally purchase marijuana from Carasel Harvest Supply Corporation, but could not under the current regime.

In January, a federal court judge struck down the requirement that each patient have a different grower as unconstitutional and unnecessarily restrictive. That ruling was stayed pending Monday's hearing, but now it will be in force. At the Monday hearing, a three-judge appeals panel said it was not persuaded by crown lawyers who argued that allowing a grower to supply more than one patient would lead to an unregulated industry.

Toronto attorney Alan Young, who represented the plaintiffs, told the Vancouver Sun "sick people" were the victors in the case. "It's time for Health Canada to recognize that medical marijuana is an
established part of the regiment for a lot of patients," Young said outside court. "Instead of thwarting patient needs, they should be accommodating patient needs and hopefully this case will be a signal to them."