Advocates for the legalization of cannabis say Monday's historic ruling on medical marijuana may soon lead to a total decriminalization of the drug.

The Ontario Court of Appeals ruled that Canada's current law prohibiting the possession of marijuana is unconstitutional.

The ruling says that if the federal government doesn't put a new law on the books within 12 months, it will cease to be a crime to grow or smoke marijuana in Ontario.

Terry Parker

The Ontario ruling says that Canada must have a marijuana law that allows people who have a legitimate medical need — like Terry Parker, who took his case to court — to smoke the drug, or have no law at all.

It doesn't call for the decriminalization of recreational marijuana, but the ruling puts the federal government in a bind. Instead of simply enforcing an old law, Canada would have to draft a new law containing criminal penalties for marijuana, even though polls suggest that three out of four Canadians oppose such a law.

And it is not just advocates that support decriminalization. The RCMP has come out in support of decriminalizing possession of small amounts of marijuana.

Neither Health Canada nor the Justice Department has yet reacted publicly to the court ruling. Health Canada says it wants to take time to study it.

Already, advocates of legalization are predicting that the government may keep on taking time until the court's 12-month deadline expires.

Alan Young, a professor of law at Toronto's Osgoode Hall and a lawyer in the Ontario case, says the government right now is "paralysed by indecision."

In the meantime, the RCMP is proceeding with marijuana operations as usual. Marijuana arrests were up 16 per cent last year, even as arrests for hard drugs and other types of crime were down.

About 40,000 Canadians were arrested for simple possession of cannabis.