Sensible B.C. plans to build support for a province wide initiative vote in 2014, following the signature-gathering process used by the Fight HST campaign in 2010. According to Sensible B.C., the proposed bill would see weed possession decriminalized for adults and the province formally call on the federal government to allow B.C. to begin legally taxing and regulating cannabis much like alcohol and tobacco.
The movement to change BC's pot laws is being undertaken on a number of fronts. The Union of BC Municipalities (UBCM), the largest annual gathering of BC mayors and councillors, will be voting on Resolution A5 on Wednesday, September 26. The resolution calls for UBCM to lobby the appropriate government to decriminalize marijuana and research its regulation and taxation. It's already endorsed by 8 B.C. mayors, including Vancouver mayor Gregor Robertson, who signed a letter in support of marijuana legalization recently. In addition, former NDP premiers Mike Harcourt and Ujjal Dosanjh, and former B.C. attorney general Geoff Plant are among the past and present politicians who have endorsed Stop the Violence’s call for the taxation and regulation of weed.
Prohibition of Marijuana doesn't work any better than the failed attempt to prohibit of alcohol did decades ago. Both are misguided puritanical missions to control what the religious establishment sees as a 'sin'. Marijuana use isn't totally benign and, as with alcohol, there are people who can become abusers. As with alcohol, by controlling its distribution and using the tax dollars generated to help those individuals instead of pouring billions of dollars into enforcing an unjust and unsupported law the people of B.C. will all be better off whether they smoke pot or not.
Please register here to show your support for the Sensible B.C. campaign.
