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 - --- MAP posted-by: Matt