Pubdate: Sat, 14 Dec 2013
Source: Alaska Highway News (CN BC)
Copyright: 2013 Glacier Interactive Media
Contact:  http://www.alaskahighwaynews.ca/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/716
Author: William Stodalka

POT PETITION NOT POPULAR IN NORTH PEACE

A few people in the Peace Region are okay with a little green leaf.

Peace River South was one of a minority of districts in B.C. that got 
enough signatures in a failed effort to put the question of marijuana 
decriminalization up to a province-wide referendum.

Over the past few months, about 210,000 B.C. residents signed up to 
support the referendum through Sensible BC, a campaign to 
decriminalize marijuana. This was not enough to put the issue to a 
vote, since provincial rules require 10 per cent of voters from each 
legislative riding to qualify.

Only 20 of the 85 districts in B.C. met this percentage of voters, 
according to Sensible BC's website. One of them was Peace River South 
- - the area that includes Dawson Creek.

Along with the district of Nechako Lakes, it was the farthest north 
portion of the province to have the necessary amount of signatures, 
and the only one in northeastern B.C. to succeed in gathering 
anywhere near the needed amount.

Twenty-eight districts in the province got between 5 and 10 per cent, 
while 37 districts reached the deadline last Monday with less than 
five per cent of voters, according to the campaign.

One of those 37 districts was Peace River North, the area that 
includes Fort St. John.

That either Peace district could meet its goal was in contrast to 
what was said earlier by Charles Kux-Kardos, who helped organize the 
campaign in Peace River South. He earlier noted that he did not 
believe that the area would gather the amount of signatures needed to succeed.

"It's not going to happen," he was quoted as saying earlier. "Once 
the dust settles and everything is kind of counted, we may have 
gotten about half of what we needed."

Kux-Kardos said the final results "blew me away," as the main 
organizers' last count showed the South Peace campaign far, far short 
of its goal.

"I'm just tickled pink," he said. "There must have been quite a few 
people who had just independently collected signatures and didn't 
hand them through me or other (organizers)."
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MAP posted-by: Jay Bergstrom