Pubdate: Thu, 18 Apr 2013
Source: Globe and Mail (Canada)
Copyright: 2013 The Globe and Mail Company
Contact:  http://www.theglobeandmail.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/168
Author: Tyler Harbottle
Cited: Stop the Violence BC: http://stoptheviolencebc.org/

STOP THE VIOLENCE ATTEMPTS TO SMOKE OUT POLITICIANS ON MARIJUANA ISSUE

It's not the "did you inhale" question many politicians have been 
asked, but a lobby group will be questioning want-to-be politicians 
on their position over a regulated marijuana market in British Columbia.

Stop the Violence BC - a coalition of police, doctors, lawyers, 
politicians and academics - argues a regulated and taxed marijuana 
market could choke the flow of funds going to organized crime, reduce 
the proliferation of illegal grow-ops in B.C. and fund drug awareness 
and harm prevention campaigns.

The group proposes a research trial that would test the impact of a 
regulated marijuana market in British Columbia.

Dr. Evan Wood, who founded the Stop the Violence BC coalition, said 
the trial would fit under an exemption in the federal drug law - the 
same exemption that Insite, the supervised drug injection site in 
B.C., already operate under.

"This would be something that is fully compliant with the 
international treaties that Canada is signatory to and fully 
compliant to our federal drug laws," Wood said.

Wood said B.C. politicians have hid behind the argument that 
marijuana is a federally controlled substance and criminal law falls 
under federal jurisdiction.

Shirley Bond, the Liberal attorney general who is running for 
re-election, said her party has been clear about its position on the 
legal aspects of cannabis control.

"We've said clearly that any significant change to how we manage this 
from a law enforcement perspective in British Columbia needs to be 
led by the federal government."

Bond said, however, a Liberal government would welcome coalition 
members to "bring their proposal and give us the opportunity to look 
at what it says."

Former Liberal attorney general Geoff Plant said he is heartened to 
hear that Bond is at least open to hearing his argument.

"That's not slamming the door," said Plant, who is among five 
attorneys general who are members of the Stop the Violence BC coalition.

"I think it is appropriate for any provincial government to pick and 
choose the federal issues it wants to take on," said Plant, adding 
that this issue is one that needs to get a lot more traction if the 
federal law is ever to be challenged.

"I'm not asking any candidate for the legislature today to support 
legalization, though I hope one day they will," said Plant.

"I'm only asking whether they would go out of their way (to prevent) 
an important piece of research that will help us all learn what we 
need to know," he said.

"You would be hard pressed to find a better example of a law whose 
unintended consequences are more perniciously contrary to its 
intended effect than this one," he said, adding that cannabis 
prohibition has provided "the economic incentive for an enormous 
underground economy and routinely kills people on our streets."

The NDP have expressed their support for decriminalizing marijuana 
but have also hid behind the argument that the matter is a federal 
one and out of their jurisdiction.

"It doesn't appear that the federal government has any interest in 
decriminalization," NDP justice critic Leonard Krog said in an 
interview last year.

Last year, mayors from eight B.C. communities added their voice to 
the coalition's call for a regulated and taxed marijuana market, and 
academics recently pegged the value of the B.C. pot industry at 
between $443 million and $564 million a year.

A 2012 study, conducted by the University of British Columbia and 
Simon Fraser University researchers who are members of the coalition, 
said there are more 366,000 pot users in B.C.
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MAP posted-by: Jay Bergstrom