Pubdate: Wed, 24 Apr 2013
Source: Metro (Vancouver, CN BC)
Copyright: 2013 Metro Canada
Contact:  http://www.metronews.ca/vancouver
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/3775
Author: Kate Webb
Cited: Sensible BC: http://www.sensiblebc.ca/

POT ACTIVIST SEES 'BEGINNING OF THE END' FOR PROHIBITION

4/20. New numbers released ahead of yearly smoke-out in city show
majority warming to marijuana legalization in B.C.

There will be more than just a pungent aroma wafting over the
Vancouver Art Gallery at Saturday's annual 4/20 protest.

Activists say a new wave of optimism has been lit under them by more
polls showing overwhelming public support for marijuana legalization
in B.C.

"I feel like we're at the beginning of the end of cannabis prohibition
now," said longtime pot campaigner Dana Larsen, referring to the
November referendums in Washington and Colorado that saw adult
recreational use legalized.

"I've been involved in this for 20 years and people have often said,
'Oh, it's just around the corner, they're going to legalize it any day
now.' And I've always thought, 'No, it's going to be within my
lifetime if I'm lucky,' but ... I feel like there's a pathway now to
decriminalization for us in the province that didn't exist before."

Larsen will be on the main stage at Saturday's annual smoke-out,
encouraging 15,000 to 20,000 giggling, redeyed revellers to get
involved in his Sensible BC campaign, which aims to spur a provincial
referendum in September 2014.

An Angus Reid poll released Thursday found 73 per cent of British
Columbians support a proposed research trial to evaluate whether the
taxation and strict regulation of adult marijuana use could reduce
profits to organized crime and better prevent youth access.

Another poll released this week, commissioned by Sensible BC, shows
more than 70 per cent support for decriminalizing possession and
urging the federal government to give B.C. the right to legalize the
drug.

Larsen says he has more than 1,000 volunteers, 20,000 people
pre-registered to sign his referendum petition this fall, and
robocalls scheduled to go out to every land-line number in the
province starting this week, offering the option to pre-register for
the petition.
- ---
MAP posted-by: Matt