Pubdate: Thu, 27 Sep 2012
Source: Monday Magazine (CN BC)
Copyright: 2012 Monday Publications
Contact: http://mondaymag.com/contact/
Website: http://www.mondaymag.com
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/1150
Author: Danielle Pope

VICTORIA HIGH ABOUT CANNABIS

Great news for cannabis supporters: your movement is here.

Over 500 people filled Victoria's Alix Goolden Hall Monday night,
Sept. 24, to be part of a community discussion on "A Sensible Cannabis
Policy For B.C."

But while five rousing speakers drew cheers and even standing ovations
from the audience, the biggest news came from one group named Sensible
BC that is proposing a question be put on the ballot in the next
provincial referendum in September 2014, asking voters whether or not
they want the Government of Canada to allow the provincial regulation
of cannabis.

Though the wording of the question is still being approved by
Elections BC, enthusiasts are calling this movement similar to the
anti-HST campaign - but with even more support.

"People are calling me the Bill Vander Zalm of marijuana," Dana
Larsen, cannabis advocate and Sensible BC founder, told the crowd. "We
are perfectly positioned in B.C. right now to create this change.
Cannabis prohibition causes far more harm than marijuana itself ever
could, and we are seeing more support for this movement than there was
for ending the HST ... Stephen Harper doesn't always get what he wants."

The group will need to collect approximately 400,000 signatures to get
the question on the ballot, and has already begun to solicit help with
leg work to get the petition in the hands of voters. At Monday night's
event, seniors, adults and even high school students rose to the mic
to ask how they could assist.

And, in a historic move on Wed., Sept. 26, the Union of BC
Municipalities voted in favour of a resolution to take a province-wide
stance that supports the decriminalization, regulation and taxation of
cannabis.

"With cannabis reform polling at 70 per cent, and with the kind of
turnout we saw [Monday] night, I think politicians at all levels would
do well to pay attention to the voters of B.C. right now," says
Philippe Lucas of the Centre for Addictions Research of B.C., who
organized the event. "We live in a society that will judge you for
speaking out about drug laws ... but there is no single law in B.C.
right now that, if reformed, could change so many factors."

For those who missed the event, a recorded version of the discussion
is posted in its entirety at the www.SensibleBC.ca website.