Pubdate: Sun, 28 Jul 2013
Source: North Shore News (CN BC)
Copyright: 2013 North Shore News
Contact:  http://www.nsnews.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/311
Author: Brent Richter

MARIJUANA ADVOCATES IN RECRUITING MODE FOR PETITION

NORTH Shore organizers are signing up volunteers after the campaign to
decriminalize marijuana possession in B.C. was given the go-ahead to
try for a referendum on the issue.

Sensible B.C. received word from Elections B.C. earlier this month
that canvassers could collect signatures for an initiative petition,
similar to the one that prompted the referendum that killed the
Harmonized Sales Tax in 2011.

"It feels good but we know there's a lot of work ahead of us and it's
a pretty onerous task," said Michael Charrois, Sensible B.C.'s
co-ordinator for North Vancouver.

"We're focused on what's need to be done."

The group, led by Dana Larsen, a former West Vancouver-Sunshine
Coast-Sea to Sky Country NDP candidate and marijuana activist, needs
to get signatures from

10 per cent of registered voters in all of the province's 85 ridings
between Sept. 9 and Nov. 9. Once the petitioning begins, expect to see
Charrois and dozens of other volunteers going door to door and setting
up booths in places with heavy foot traffic. Even though laws against
marijuana are federal, the petition calls for changes to the
provincial Police Act, to specifically instruct officers not to
enforce marijuana possession laws. If successful, the petition would
force the provincial government to address the issue, either through a
non-binding referendum or bill in the legislature.

Charrois and his fellow campaigners were on the street shaking hands
and signing up canvassers in Ambleside on Sunday. "Here on the North
Shore, we have 71 people and it's growing every day," Charrois said.
"Hopefully we get people with their own networks who can get people to
sign. We're growing over the summer."

It's hard to predict the initiative's chances of success, either on
the North Shore or province wide, Charrois said. He said he's received
"a pretty positive response when we're out on the street."

But he also acknowledged initiative petitions are a strict numbers
game. "All it takes is one of the 85 (ridings) to not get 10 per cent
of the registered voters," he said.

Adding to the challenge is that people who want to sign the petition
can only do so in the riding in which they are registered to vote. "It
can be tricky. If we get someone who lives in West Vancouver and they
sign one from North Vancouver, well, it doesn't count," he said.

To combat that, canvassers will be out with petition pages for each of
the North Shore's ridings.
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MAP posted-by: Matt