Pubdate: Thu, 14 Nov 2013
Source: Maple Ridge Times (CN BC)
Copyright: 2013 Lower Mainland Publishing Group Inc
Contact:  http://www.mrtimes.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/1372
Author: Tim Tyler
Cited: Sensible BC: http://www.sensiblebc.ca/

KAMP MISGUIDED ON POT AND VETS

I thought I'd missed the Sensible BC rally Saturday last in the
Memorial Peace Park, but when I showed up, there was still a small
coterie of cannabis co-conspirators around the makeshift kiosk where
one could add his or her name to the growing list favouring the
legalization of the evil weed, marijuana.

The local campaign, under the direction of Craig Speirs, is trying to
collect 10 per cent of the registered voters in the two ridings that
intersect in Maple Ridge.

As of Saturday they were about a third of the way there, with less
than a month to go.

We have discussed in this space the advantages of legalizing the weed:
everything from billions in revenue through taxes, to jobs (200,000!),
to the extra hours available to the police to pursue real criminals,
to the removal of marijuana commerce from the hands of organized crime.

Unfortunately, both the federal and provincial governments oppose
marijuana reform: meaning Liberal MLAs [Doug] Bing and [Marc] Dalton
won't sign the petition, claiming they "don't have permission to yet"
- - mom won't let them, in spite of how their constituents might feel.

Herr [Randy] Kamp, our MP, who says he has never smoked grass and has
no intention of doing so, thinks it's a pretty harmful drug without
mentioning why, and admits that he isn't clear what Sensible BC is
proposing.

He also thinks that "most Canadians don't smoke marijuana" - without
divulging his source of information or how many Canadians "most'"
represents - and that "'most' Canadians support 'our' (meaning Stephen
Harper's) point of view."

So, here's your representative in Ottawa, who has never smoked
marijuana - not that it matters - who doesn't know what Sensible BC is
all about, and who makes statements about the drug, using an ambiguous
word such as "most" to describe the number of citizens who don't smoke
what is, in his view, a harmful substance, because that's what the
boss has told him to say.

Don't confuse the electorate with a lot of statistics and studies and
information; all they have to know is that pot is evil - right out of
Reefer Madness this, and just what Conservative supporters wish to
hear: that pot-smokers are hedonistic hippies who love to get high and
have sex and contribute nothing to the Conservative vision of society.

Thank God sex isn't the issue here, as in legalizing prostitution or
just fornicating out of wedlock, else the Harperites would be
criminalizing it as well.

Mayor [Ernie] Daykin did sign the petition, and I'm sure he's never
ingested anything stronger than one of his wife's lemon meringue pies.

He says there needs to be some conversation and that maybe legalizing
it is the way to go.

Pitt Meadows Mayor Deb Walters will not sign because she doesn't want
to foist her opinions on anyone else (hear that Randall?), but admits
she has no problem with legalization.

Open minds, independent thinkers.

As much as I admire Speirs and consider him a friend, I think he may
be his own worst enemy, a high-profile community activist from the
left who has been in politics at several levels, a tree-hugger who is
now a "weed-hugger."

His reputation may be keeping some people away, although one can only
hope that voters will look at the issue and not the man, when
considering their options.

This isn't just a "pinko pipe dream" or some socialist scheme to drug
the electorate into submission; legalization makes sense. So don't
Bogart that vote, my friend.

Meanwhile, at the cenotaph on Nov. 11, an irony-free Randy Kamp is
laying a wreath while back in Ottawa his boss is planning to close
veterans' affairs regional offices while cutting 300 jobs and $226
million from the program to service ill and injured vets.

Later on at the grocery, I witnessed a man chastising Kamp in the
express line, for the way the Cons are treating the veterans.

Lest we forget.
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MAP posted-by: Matt