Pubdate: Thu, 15 Nov 2012
Source: Victoria Times-Colonist (CN BC)
Copyright: 2012 Times Colonist
Contact: http://www2.canada.com/victoriatimescolonist/letters.html
Website: http://www.timescolonist.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/481
Author: Les Leyne
Referenced: Sensible Policing Act: 
http://sensiblebc.ca/the-sensible-policing-act/

WASHINGTON VOTE BOOSTS CHANGE IN B.C.

Liberal MLA Doug Horne will be in Coeur d'Alene, Idaho, today 
representing B.C. at the Pacific Northwest Economic Region conference.

It's a regular meeting of western provinces and states where 
officials talk about common concerns.

Marijuana is not on the agenda, Horne said, and he has no plans to bring it up.

But you can bet some hallway chatter will be about the groundbreaking 
Washington state initiative vote last week that effectively legalizes 
the recreational use of up to one ounce of pot by adults.

It's the biggest new cross-border issue since the end of Prohibition. 
It tells you something about how far ahead voters are of their 
governments that it's not on the PNWER agenda.

The impact from the decision is already being felt. State prosecutors 
this week started dismissing simple-possession charges, even before 
that aspect of the initiative takes legal effect on Dec. 9.

Barring a challenge from the U.S. government, the full effect will 
take hold a year from now, when Washington state is required to have 
a commercial marijuana distribution sys-tem up and running, complete 
with a taxation system.

B.C. pot advocate Dana Larsen said that's the date to watch for the 
birth of a brand-new industry in Washington - marijuana tourism.

There's not much advantage now to travelling south to smoke pot. It's 
still illegal to consume publicly there. And although simple 
possession charges are up in B.C., it's blamed on police using that 
as a fallback charge to roust people suspected of other offences.

As far as recreational users who abide by most other laws are 
concerned, there isn't a big enough enforcement difference now to 
drive B.C. pot smokers across the border.

Larsen said that will change a year from now, when B.C. visitors can 
experience the novelty of walking into a government-regulated store 
to legally buy a small amount of pot.

In the meantime, Larsen - who ran unsuccessfully for the B.C. NDP 
leadership in 2011 - is trying to emulate the Washington organizers 
of the initiative drive.

He filed an initiative petition with Elections B.C. and got it 
certified in September. Larsen said an earlier one was ruled invalid, 
but the "Sensible Policing Act" has been validated for a petition 
drive starting next week.

But Larsen filed it just to get the approval. Now he is going to 
withdraw it while he spends the next year building a network of 
volunteer canvassers. He plans to resubmit the identical bill next 
summer and start canvassing in September 2013.

The draft bill is an end-run around the fact that federal law 
dictates pot policy. It would amend the provincial Police Act to 
stipulate that police resources will no longer be used to enforce the 
law against simple possession and use of pot by adults.

Under the proposed law, if police resources were used on pot 
possession, they would have to report the circumstances to the 
Minister of Justice, who would be required to make the report public.

The bill would also require B.C. to demand that the federal 
government repeal the pot prohibition, or give B.C. an exemption, 
"such that B.C. is able to tax and regulate cannabis similar to the 
regulation of alcohol and tobacco."

It also requires a commission to devise a legal, regulated model for 
production and use of pot by adults.

The Washington process required 240,000 signatures on the petition to 
put the idea to an initiative vote. Advocates collected more than 
350,000 names and a random-sample audit confirmed 278,000 were properly signed.

B.C. requires signatures from 10 per cent of the registered voters in 
all 85 ridings, which amounts to about 320,000. The successful 
petition in 2010 to repeal the HST easily surpassed that, with 560,000 names.

Meanwhile, a separate campaign run by Stop the Violence B.C. is 
continuing. That group has won endorsements from former politicians, 
police officers and academics. The next round of validation is 
expected to come from B.C. business leaders. The group is also keen 
to make marijuana legalization an issue in two different arenas - the 
next provincial election and the federal Liberal leadership race.

Larsen's petition and Stop the Violence B.C.'s push are pursuing the 
same goal through different means. But the Washington initiative is a 
huge boost for both.
- ---
MAP posted-by: Jay Bergstrom