Pubdate: Thu, 08 Nov 2012
Source: Victoria Times-Colonist (CN BC)
Copyright: 2012 Times Colonist
Contact: http://www2.canada.com/victoriatimescolonist/letters.html
Website: http://www.timescolonist.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/481
Author: Tamsyn Burgmann

U.S. VOTES CLOUD B.C. POT FUTURE

The future appears hazy for B.C.'s thriving underground pot industry, 
even as two U.S. states - Washington and Colorado - have voted to 
allow citizens to legally use the drug recreationally.

Business consequences could range from mild to sending marijuana 
producers' livelihoods up in smoke, depending on how much of the 
estimated $6 billion to $8 billion annual economy is currently being 
exported south of the border, analysts said.

Opinion on the impact varies widely, but those advocating for Canada 
to adopt a more evidence-based policy on marijuana say Tuesday's 
votes mean Canada is falling behind the U.S.

Indeed, on the same day as Washington and Colorado moved toward 
decriminalizing pot, the Harper government was bringing into force 
tough new mandatory penalties. Drug measures in the Conservative 
government's omnibus Safe Streets and Communities Act, passed last 
spring, came into full force and effect.

Canada's new law provides a mandatory six-month jail term for growing 
as few as six marijuana plants, twice the mandatory minimum for 
luring a child to watch pornography or exposing oneself on a playground.

"Today our message is clear that if you are in the business of 
producing, importing or exporting of drugs, you'll now face jail 
time," Justice Minister Rob Nicholson said in a statement Tuesday, 
before the U.S. polls closed.

Washington and Colorado voters passed ballot initiatives that remove 
criminal penalties for the possession and sale of recreational marijuana.

Should the U.S. federal government not challenge the initiatives, 
which directly opposes federal rules, the states will begin regulated 
sales of the drug.

A similar initiative in Oregon failed to pass.

"Obviously, we're not sending the army to the B.C.-Washington state 
border because of the vote," said Dr. Evan Wood, founder of an 
ongoing campaign for Canad-ina marijuana legalization that includes 
health, legal and justice professionals.

Canadian opponents of legalization have often noted that 
decriminalizing pot would prompt a negative reaction south of the 
border that could make it harder for goods and people to cross back 
and forth, Wood said.

"This vote is obviously going to take that tool away that I think has 
quite successfully quashed debate on this topic in Canada."

The coalition, called Stop the Violence BC, contends prohibition of 
marijuana is a failed strategy that fuels bloody gang wars and 
facilitates the influx of guns and cocaine when it's traded into the 
U.S. via organized crime.

The value of the export marijuana market cannot be easily quantified 
because it's based on smuggling.

But experts who believe it's hefty argue the market for well-known 
"B.C. bud" will shrink simply because it won't be in such high-demand 
anymore in places like Washington, where users will be able to make 
legal purchases.

"It may not wipe out the entire market but probably wipe out most of 
it," said University of B.C. economics Prof. Werner Antweiler, who 
says a substantial amount of B.C.'s marijuana - in the range of 
two-thirds - is pushed into the U.S. West Coast.
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MAP posted-by: Jay Bergstrom