Pubdate: Fri, 13 Dec 2013
Source: Dawson Creek Daily News (CN BC)
Copyright: 2013 Glacier Community Media
Contact:  http://www.dawsoncreekdailynews.ca/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/690
Author: William Stodalka
Cited: Sensible BC: http://www.sensiblebc.ca

SOUTH PEACE PASSES THE POT (PETITION)

More than a few people in the South Peace are OK with a little green
leaf.

Ours was one of a minority of districts in B.C. that got enough
signatures in a failed effort to put the question of marijuana
decriminalization up to a province-wide referendum.

Over the past few months, about 210,000 B.C. residents signed up to
support the referendum through Sensible BC, a campaign to
decriminalize marijuana.

This was not enough to put the issue to a vote, since provincial rules
require 10 per cent of voters from each legislative riding to qualify.

Only 20 of the 85 districts in B.C. met this percentage of voters,
according to Sensible BC's website. One of them was Peace River South
- the area that includes Dawson Creek.

Along with the district of Nechako Lakes, it was the farthest north
portion of the province to have the necessary amount of signatures,
and the only one in north eastern B.C. to succeed in gathering
anywhere near the needed amount.

Twenty-eight districts in the province got between 5 and 10 per cent,
while 37 districts reached the deadline last Monday with less than
five per cent of voters, according to the campaign.

One of those 37 districts was Peace River North, the area that
includes Fort St. John.

That either Peace district could meet its goal was in contrast to what
was said earlier by Charles Kux-Kardos, who helped organize the
campaign in Peace River South. He earlier noted that he did not
believe that the area would gather the amount of signatures needed to
succeed.

"It's not going to happen," he was quoted as saying earlier. "Once the
dust settles and everything is kind of counted, we may have gotten
about half of what we needed."

Kux-Kardos said the final results "blew me away," as the main
organizers' last count showed the South Peace campaign far, far short
of its goal.

"I'm just tickled pink," he said. "There must have been quite a few
people who had just independently collected signatures and didn't hand
them through me or other (organizers)."