Pubdate: Thu, 27 Sep 2012
Source: Alberni Valley Times (CN BC)
Copyright: 2012 Alberni Valley Times
Contact:  http://www.canada.com/vancouverisland/albernivalleytimes/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/4043
Author: Les Leyne

CHANGE TO MARIJUANA LAW MOVES CLOSER

It looks like B.C.'s municipal leaders will boldly go where most 
senior governments fear to tread, when it comes to getting real about 
marijuana.

Delegates at the Union of B.C. Municipalities convention in Victoria 
voted yesterday on a resolution endorsing the decriminalization of marijuana.

The resolution is the latest move in a well-thought-out campaign 
that's been carefully executed over the last while.

It's based on opening a second front for the decriminalization 
movement, which has been mostly in the hands of the zealots for years.

The true believers in pot, like former NDP leadership candidate Dana 
Larsen, are still hammering away.

Just last week they unveiled plans to start an initiative drive to 
collect 400,000 signatures to force a referendum on setting a new 
provincial policy that would effectively legalize simple possession.

But last fall a new and different campaign began. It's based on 
bringing in respected mainstream community leaders to validate two 
general themes. The first is that the status quo isn't working.

The second is that decriminalization would be a common sense response 
to the absurdities that the current laws on marijuana continue to create.

The campaign is organized and directed by a group called Stop the 
Violence B.C., an organization with a long list of members with 
impeccable credentials in health policy, law enforcement and the 
political sphere.

They opened with a poll establishing that British Columbians by a 
fairly wide margin don't support the status quo laws on marijuana, 
and most think it should be regulated and taxed.

Working with a public-relations firm, the group has built momentum 
since then to bring policy in line with those findings and to cajole 
politicians into coming onside.

They organized the appearance last November of four former Vancouver 
mayors to endorse the movement.

Sen. Larry Campbell, Mike Harcourt, Sam Sullivan and Philip Owen went 
public and signed an open letter stressing the gang related violence 
that stems from marijuana prohibition.

It also challenged current politicians to consider the alternative - 
to legalize and regulate the plant, to eliminate the illicit market, 
increase tax revenue and eliminate some of the costs associated with 
processing people through the criminal courts on marijuana charges.

A few months later, they staged another round of validation, where 
four former attorneys general said effectively the same thing.

That was followed up in April by another open call for regulation and 
taxation, this time by a coalition of municipal leaders.

Various mayors from all over B.C. endorsed Stop the Violence B.C.'s 
goal. There had been an earlier round of resolutions passed by 
municipal councils saying the same thing.

So although delegates have never tackled the issue before, they are 
not being hit with it cold. A lot of groundwork has been done.

The resolution - to decriminalize and study the regulation and 
taxation of pot - also has a prime spot on the agenda, and is 
favourably framed by the committee that checks the motions.

It was preceded by a panel discussion on the pros and cons of 
decriminalization. Even though it was staged early Mon-day, before 
many delegates had arrived, the room was jammed to capacity.

It's a subjective call, but it seemed like the decriminalization side 
easily carried the day.

The leading opponent - criminologist Darryl Plecas - made an 
unfocused argument that descended into slapstick at one point 
("Smoking marijuana is stupid and you become stupider.")

He cited the harms associated with marijuana - impaired driving, lost 
opportunity costs - but acknowledged they affect a small share of the 
population. And none of his arguments defended the status quo, which 
is getting pretty indefensible.

Plecas also assured people the black market and gang violence would 
continue even if it was decriminalized, something that is 
emphatically disputed by others.

Decriminalization advocate Geoff Plant said he was paralyzed as 
attorney general on the issue by all the arguments that U.S. 
authorities would react strongly if moves were made in B.C.

But with various marijuana initiative votes on the ballots in 
neighbouring states, he said B.C. may soon be playing catch-up if the 
issue isn't addressed.

What he called the "multi-generational obsession with 'reefer 
madness' "still has a way to run. But it feels like the end to 
prohibition is closer than it used to be.
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MAP posted-by: Jay Bergstrom