Pubdate: Fri, 19 Oct 2012
Source: Province, The (CN BC)
Copyright: 2012 Postmedia Network Inc.
Contact: http://www2.canada.com/theprovince/letters.html
Website: http://www.theprovince.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/476
Author: Elaine O'Connor
Cited: Stop the Violence BC: http://stoptheviolencebc.org/

MLA HEED PUSHES FOR PUBLIC DEBATE ON LEGALIZING POT

Movement: 'War on drugs has been a failure'

Ex-West Vancouver police chief and solicitor-general and current MLA
Kash Heed added his voice to the call to legalize marijuana Thursday,
saying British Columbians should make regulating the drug an election
issue.

Heed, a 30-year, law-enforcement veteran who led the Vancouver Police
Department's anti-gang and drug squads, announced he was joining the
Stop the Violence B.C. movement to decriminalize pot. He said he
recognizes that trying to police the illegal drug trade and related
gang violence has been "a failure."

"Politicians need to take a firm stand here," he urged. "It's time for
us to change the marijuana laws. It needs to be an election issue.
There needs to be public debate," said the VancouverFraserview MLA.

Heed is meeting with MLAs and government officials to try to garner
support and has his eye on three U.S. states: Colorado, Washington and
Oregon, which will vote on the issue this fall.

"There are several members [MLAs] that do feel its time for us to have
the debate," he said, allowing Premier Christy Clark and
Attorney-General Shirley Bond weren't on side.

"The premier has come out and said it's a federal issue, but I don't
believe that."

Heed said he heard the same arguments with the InSite safe-injection
site. And yet, the province was able to mobilize to create a
safe-injection site with an exemption the drug problem in Vancouver.

Opinion seems to be turning at the civic government level. The Union
of B.C. Municipalities recently passed a resolution in favour of
legalization at their annual general meeting.

Seventeen U.S. states have legal exemptions for marijuana use, while
14 have decriminalized possession.

Heed proposes possession of small amounts of pot be legal for adults
in B.C. (but remain illegal for minors under 19), and be sold and
taxed through regulated channels, much like alcohol and cigarettes,
and that the tax go to support drug-abuse treatment and prevention.

In a video released by Heed and the STVBC campaign, entitled The 
Marijuana Wars: A Police Officer Speaks Out, Heed admitted his police 
training once led him to believe "we can arrest our way out of this 
particular problem" but he is now convinced "the war on drugs has been a 
failure."

He said other high-ranking police officials agree, but would never
publicly admit it until after they leave policing.

Stop the Violence B.C. is a coalition of legal experts,
law-enforcement and public-health officials, academics and
ex-government officials advocating for the introduction of
marijuana-related policies to improve public health and reduce
drug-fuelled crime.
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