Pubdate: Fri, 04 May 2012
Source: Coquitlam Now, The (CN BC)
Copyright: 2012Lower Mainland Publishing Group, Inc.
Contact:  http://www.thenownews.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/1340
Author: Marc Dube
Referenced: http://www.mapinc.org/drugnews/v12/n257/a05.html

WHY NOT HAVE A DISCUSSION ON LEGALIZATION?

Re: "Legalize it? Not in the Tri-Cities," Wednesday, May 2.

I was surprised and disappointed to read Mayor Mike Clay's comments in
Wednesday's paper, unilaterally stating that Port Moody will not be
supporting the Stop the Violence BC letter calling for the regulation
and taxation of marijuana.

Prohibition-era rhetoric like "gateway drug" (long since disproven),
"empower the criminal underworld" (which is what the current policy
does) and "rampant abuse" (sounds like you're experiencing Reefer
Madness to me, Mike), left me thinking that the five minutes Mr. Clay
spent elucidating on the issue is a whole lot more time than he's
spent learning about the topic.

Even back in 1995, when I was finishing up my criminology degree at
SFU, the vast majority of scientific research debunked all of Mr.
Clay's assertions, and the literature since then has only grown. All
that's happening now is the public and media are catching up, and
brave people within the system are starting to speak out.

The percentage of people that support some form of legalization is
pushing 70 per cent - a percentage that I'm sure Mr. Clay would
describe as overwhelming had it been the percentage of votes he
received in the last election.

Current mayors, former premiers and attorneys general of B.C., the
current leader of the federal Liberals, academics, current and retired
prosecutors, police officers and other law enforcement personnel (as
part of LEAP) all support the end of the failed war on drugs. I don't
know Mr. Clay personally, however I'm betting some of the
aforementioned people have a little more real-life experience in this
arena.

But, I could be wrong. Maybe the current mayor and council are
extremely well informed. If so, why not propose what they're doing
down the road in PoCo and have a discussion about it?

Open it up for debate. You were elected to steward the business of the
city - not dictate the morals of its citizens. Let the people speak -
after all, more of us support legalization than supported you.

Finally, it's ironic that four pages further along we read how Mr.
Clay voted against providing grant money (a whopping $7,000 combined)
to the Port Moody Ecological Society, the Vancouver Area Cycling
Coalition and Meals on Wheels.

Hmmm - support the failed war on drugs and cut funding to the
environmentalists and poor. When the current mayor of Port Moody jumps
to the next level of politics, I can conservatively guess which colour
of blue he'll be sporting.

Marc Dube

Port Moody
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MAP posted-by: Matt