Pubdate: Fri, 13 Dec 2013
Source: Columbia Valley Pioneer, The (CN BC)
Copyright: 2013 The Columbia Valley Pioneer
Contact: http://www.columbiavalleypioneer.com/contact.html#letter
Website: http://www.columbiavalleypioneer.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/4207
Author: Greg Amos

SENSE AND SENSIBLE BC

The push to reform B.C.'s enforcement of laws around marijuana 
possession has puffed out, gone up in smoke, burned out - there's no 
shortage of metaphors for this one.

In a failed campaign that had a distinctly different result from the 
anti-HST frenzy that resulted in a successful citizens' petition two 
years ago, Sensible BC's push for change got stalled around the 
stigma many feel when signing a petition that has to do with marijuana.

It's ironic that the local organizer saw how much interest the 
petition was getting through social media, but how few of those 
Facebook hits translated into people getting out and signing the 
Columbia River - Revelstoke riding petition form in person.

Many might have felt safer supporting the cause online, rather than 
putting pen to paper on the form that would wind up in the provincial 
government's possession. But the reverse is true - most actions on 
social media become part of a person's "digital tattoo", as David 
Thompson Secondary students no doubt learned at an Internet safety 
talk held at the school on December 4th.

There's an image that's gone viral on the Internet in recent weeks, 
of a foreign aid volunteer delivering a bundle of Facebook likes to 
starving African children - as though the "likes" add up to anything 
more than good intentions. It's an image one should keep in mind if 
they want to make a real difference.
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MAP posted-by: Jay Bergstrom