Pubdate: Fri, 08 Jun 2012
Source: Comox Valley Echo (CN BC)
Copyright: 2012 Comox Valley Echo
Contact:  http://www.mapinc.org/media/785
Author: Lise Broadley

VALLEY MAYORS DIVIDED ON DECRIMINALIZING MARIJUANA

It's not reefer madness, exactly - more of a doobie debate.

The Comox Valley's three mayors have weighed in on where they stand on
the decriminalization of marijuana, and as it turns out, they don't
all agree.

While Comox mayor Paul Ives and Cumberland mayor Leslie Bates support
(to varying degrees) the decriminalization of marijuana, Courtenay
mayor Larry Jangula is against the idea.

Local politicians across the province have been weighing in on the
subject lately. In recent months the topic has been up for discussion
at a number of meetings of municipal governments, where politicians
have debated the pros and cons of lobbying the federal government to
lift some of the criminal penalties associated with possessing and
smoking pot.

Laws governing the legalization of marijuana are a federal matter.
Municipal governments can pressure the government to change the laws
but they cannot make any changes themselves. In recent months, a
number of mayors from across B.C, including the mayor of Vancouver,
have said they support a push to have pot decriminalized. There are
plenty of others, however, who don't support the move.

Mayor of Courtenay Larry Jangula, who worked in law enforcement for
almost 30 years, is one of those people.

"I don't think it will make this a better country," he said. "I am
firmly convinced that it would not make us a better society."

While legalization activists say that organized crime, responsible for
a large proportion of pot production and trafficking, will suffer if
the rug is pulled out from under them, Jangula calls that argument
"naive thinking."

"Criminals will always find a way to make money. I think it's just
laughable that [people think] these criminals will go and get a job,"
he said, adding that he doesn't buy in to the idea that something
should be legalized because a lot of people are participating. "If
everybody's doing it does that make it OK? What if this were cocaine?"

Jangula pointed out that the possession of personal amounts of
marijuana has already been decriminalized in practice if not in law.
He said that people caught with small amounts of the drug are rarely
prosecuted criminally, and generally only in cases involving repeat
offenders.

Cumberland's mayor Leslie Baird attended the Association of Vancouver
Island and Coastal Communities annual convention in Ucluelet in April,
during which a resolution was passed to lobby the federal government
to decriminalize marijuana and research its regulation and taxation.

The resolution states, "marijuana prohibition is a failed policy which
has cost millions of dollars in police, court, jail and social
cost-the decriminalization and regulation of marijuana would provide
tax revenues," and then calls for municipalities to lobby the government.

"I supported it," said Baird. "Prohibition does not work and it's
proven not to work. People are making millions of dollars on it so why
not make it legal and tax it?"

The vote inspired a lively debate before being approved, and now the
subject is expected to be up for discussion at the next Union of B.C.
Municipalities convention in September. If it gains support there, the
next step will be to take the cause national at the Federation of
Canadian Municipalities, where local governments will decide if they
want to lobby the government to make changes to the law and
decriminalize pot.

Baird said she was in favour of a system that would see marijuana
regulated and taxed in a system similar to that used to control
alcohol sales in Canada. She said that any decriminalization of
marijuana would have to include limits on how it is produced, where it
is sold and who can buy it. Comox mayor Paul Ives said he was in
favour of decriminalizing the possession of small amounts of marijuana.

"Society has changed and we should reflect these moral changes," he
said, but stressed that decriminalizing a substance is not that same
as legalizing it. "Legalization, regulation and taxation, I think over
time we will get there. There are pros and cons".

All three mayors agreed that there are issues concerning the
production and supply of medical marijuana that are separate from the
debate about legalization and decriminalization, and that those issues
should be explored separately.
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