Pubdate: Fri, 29 Nov 2013
Source: Daily Courier, The (CN BC)
Copyright: 2013 The Okanagan Valley Group of Newspapers
Contact: http://drugsense.org/url/5NyOACet
Website: http://www.kelownadailycourier.ca
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/531
Author: Ron Seymour
Cited: Sensible BC: http://www.sensiblebc.ca

POT LEGALIZATION DRIVE FLOUNDERS

The pro-pot crusade hasn't yet gone up in smoke, but it seems to be 
getting there.

Efforts to gather enough signatures province wide to force a 
referendum on the legalization of marijuana may not succeed, 
advocates of the cause heard Thursday in Kelowna.

"It's looking pretty tough," Dana Larsen, head of Sensible BC, told a 
crowd of supporters who gathered under the Bennett clock tower.

"But if we don't make it this time, we're going to try it again," he 
said. "This has always been about the beginning of something, not the 
end of it."

Organizers needed to collect the signatures of 10 per cent of the 
registered voters in each of the province's 85 ridings to force a 
referendum. With just over a week left in the three-month canvassing 
period allowed by Elections BC, they are well short of the target in 
many ridings.

In Kelowna-Mission, for example, supporters have gathered only about 
half the signatures required. Signature-drawing efforts have also 
faltered in northern B.C., the Fraser Valley and parts of Vancouver, 
Larsen said.

Thursday's press conference was held in downtown Kelowna, however, to 
celebrate one victory for the campaign.

Canvassers have managed to reach the required 4,500-signature 
threshold in the riding of Westside-Kelowna, which is represented by 
Liberal Premier Christy Clark.

Special effort seems to have been put into the campaign in 
Westside-Kelowna for the perceived symbolic victory of getting enough 
signatures in the riding represented by the premier.

Asked what response, if any, he expected from Clark, Larsen said he 
wasn't sure. But he described her as a self-admitted former marijuana 
user and suggested the government should act in support of pot's 
legalization even if the referendum campaign fails.
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MAP posted-by: Jay Bergstrom