Pubdate: Fri, 09 Nov 2012
Source: Nelson Star (CN BC)
Copyright: 2012 Black Press
Contact: http://drugsense.org/url/4kNvY8sy
Website: http://www.bclocalnews.com/kootenay_rockies/nelsonstar/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/4866
Author: Sam Van Schie

Washington state legalizes marijuana

WHAT POT VOTE MEANS TO US

Washington State now has a more progressive marijuana law than BC.

In Tuesday's United States election, 55 per cent of Washington voters
supported a state initiative to make it legal for residents to have up
to an ounce of marijuana in their possession for recreational use.
Colorado voters also supported a similar initiative.

Previously both states only allowed possession of marijuana for
medical purposes, which is also what's permitted in Canada.

Don Skogstad, a criminal lawyer who splits his time between Nelson and
Penticton, supports Canada-wide drug reform and has become the go-to
lawyer for people in this area facing drug-related charges. He said
unlike across the border where marijuana laws can change state by
state, BC can't legalize recreational marijuana on its own. Ottawa
would have to make that decision for the whole country.

With Stephen Harper leading a Conservative majority parliament, that
isn't likely to happen anytime soon.

Both Harper and NDP leader Thomas Mulcair are opposed to legalizing
marijuana, though Mulcair would support decriminalizing it. The
federal Liberals, however, say they would legalize and regulate the
sale of marijuana similar to alcohol, which pollsters say is what a
majority of Canadians want.

"If the people have the same say in this country as they do in the US,
Canadians would vote to do the same thing Washington did," Skogstad
told the Star.

An Ipsos Reid survey conducted this summer found that 66 per cent of
Canadians believe it should be legal to carry a small amount of marijuana.

Union of BC Municipalities members, including Nelson council, voted in
September to begin lobbying for the decriminalization of marijuana.

In the meantime, Vancouver pot activist Dana Larsen hopes to use BC's
Recall and Initiative Act - the same legislation used to repeal HST in
BC - to force the province to hold a non-binding referendum to ask
whether voters want police in the province to enforce federal drug
laws.

Nelson Police Department chief Wayne Holland said there are other
issues his department could focus more attention on if officers
weren't obligated to charge people caught carrying small amounts of
pot.

"Law enforcement follows the direction of citizens," Holland said.
"Lawmakers and policy makers should speak for the majority of society
when they tell us how to direct our resources."

Both Holland and Skogstad agree that the change in Washington law
could help address myths about the harm legalized marijuana would
cause to society.

"People will see the state isn't going into wreck and ruin just
because marijuana is available," Skogstad said. "Even since the
legalization of medical marijuana, both north and south of the border,
people are realizing it's not the boogyman they thought it was."

Canadians will also see how much money governments can make by taxing
the sale of marijuana. Washington expects to collect $560 million in
the first year from a planned 25 per cent tax on the licensed sale of
marijuana in its state liquor stores.

"Maybe our government will realize they could use that kind of
windfall," Skogstad said.

As for what the new, legal marijuana markets in Washington and
Colorado will mean for BC pot growers who illegally export their
product to the United States, Stogstad doesn't think there will be a
lot of change.

"There are still 48 other states to sell BC bud to," he said, noting
California will continue to be a major importer.

He also said BC pot users probably won't have much luck if they try to
go over the border to pick up weed, since only Washington State
residents will be legally allowed to purchase the product in stores,
and bringing it back over the border would mean getting it past
federal officials. More likely, they'll just continue to buy from
their regular source.

"People who use marijuana recreationally know where to get it and
that's not going to change," Skogstad said.

"Whether marijuana is legal or illegal people are still going to grow
it and people are still going to buy it. The difference is who profits
from it."
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MAP posted-by: Matt