Straight Talk

B.C. Liberals candidate Darryl Plecas targeted for opposition to pot

by Carlito Pablo on May 1st, 2013 at 12:36 PM
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      Abbotsford South is ground zero in the B.C. Marijuana Party’s war against prohibition.

      From its original plan to run two candidates in the May 14 election just to maintain its registration with Elections B.C., the party is now intent on doing more than that.

      When B.C. Liberals annointed criminologist Darryl Plecas as their candidate in Abbotsford South, marijuana-legalization advocate Steve Finlay went from thinking about bringing in people to campaign against Plecas to deciding to represent the cannabis party himself in the election.

      According to Finlay, Plecas is the “worst prohibitionist” around these days. “I said, ‘Okay, this is the opportunity to show that if you are a prohibitionist, you pay for it and you don’t do well in the polls,’ ” Finlay told the Straight in a phone interview.

      Although Finlay doesn’t expect to win Abbotsford South, which has been held for five straight terms by now independent MLA John van Dongen, his party’s endgame is clear: “Show by example that being a hard prohibitionist gets in the way of being elected.”

      Plecas said he has assumed that the B.C. Marijuana Party is after him. The long-time University of the Fraser Valley professor is undaunted, however. “That is complete crap,” Plecas said in a phone interview with the Straight, dismissing the argument that legalizing marijuana will undercut criminal syndicates.

      According to Plecas, organized crime is not in the business of selling pot in B.C.

      “Organized crime is in the business of exporting marijuana out of B.C.,” he said. “I don’t know why they keep flogging this notion. The amount of marijuana that’s consumed in B.C., which is consumed by about 585,000 people, is a mere fraction of what is produced. Why do they keep perpetuating this myth? Am I missing something here? Do you think that organized crime is going to make its living selling a few joints? Which is stupid.”

      Comments

      15 Comments

      Juliette

      May 1, 2013 at 1:30pm

      How does he know only 585,000 people in BC smoke pot? I bet that it's far more than that. The 585,000 most likely represents only the people that openly admit to smoking it.

      Aside from curbing crime by legalizing it you could also essentially wipe out our debt very quickly should you sell it and tax it like alcohol. I guess they figure there is too much $$ to made in enforcement. That's alot of cops, judges etc. the keep working.

      The Liberals are so out of touch (as are the Conservatives) that it's laughable. I can't wait until the uninformed old farts die off so we can all have a common sense, informed discussion around this issue.

      At the very least it should be offered to people w/ illnesses to help ease pain. This is something I have first hand knowledge of.

      Alex T

      May 1, 2013 at 1:31pm

      If 585,000 British Columbians (over 10% of us) are buying pot then that's a huge amount of money going to organized crime. It may not be the biggest source of income but it's a start.

      As for whether most marijuana is destined for exports, I have two things to say:
      * why aren't we taxing this so the province gets benefits just like we do with lumber and other resources?
      * our export business is going to take a serious hit once we start seeing legal marijuana growing in Washington and Colorado so let's take away the domestic market as well

      As to Plecas's question "Am I missing something here?" Yes, yes you are.

      eddy

      May 2, 2013 at 6:01am

      good plan then i suppose all those dealers now selling pot for a living will just jump into the labour force and take on meaning full work, as they will not be able to operate their street corner business any longer. They would not consider changing their product line to flowers or something

      Billy

      May 2, 2013 at 12:42pm

      Herp a derp, pot's bad. Herp a derp, the riding I want to represent cultivates and consumes tons of it. Herp a derp, I'm an effing moron.

      Ross

      May 11, 2013 at 1:59pm

      I would have to say that yes, they would join the labour force, or a large percentage would. If they have what amounts to an hourly job now working in the marijuana industry. Why wouldn't they continue to work an hourly job in a legal marijuana industry?

      My God!!! The world just might come to an end! Police going after real criminals, employment, revenue, total nightmare.

      Stew

      May 12, 2013 at 2:14pm

      It should be legalized and taxed. Am I missing something here? What the hell is the argument against doing this? Pot is bad? Seriously? If you can wipe out the gangs and cartels with legalization why wouldn't you do that? Of course they're exporting it....in exchange for cocaine...make it legal and that goes away. B.C. needs to join Washington State and that little billion dollar industry goes sour almost overnight!

      don

      May 12, 2013 at 2:24pm

      if organized crime isn't in the business of selling pot then why don't they legalize it so the money they waste on pot charges can go towards the business they are doing.
      and to all those people against legalization, if you like to go home and have a glass of scotch, or a beer, you are just a bunch of hypocrites cause its the same as myself relaxing with a joint after a hard day

      Neil Magnuson

      May 12, 2013 at 2:30pm

      So Mr Plecas thinks that the cannabis purchased by 585,000 cannabis consumers is "a few joints"? And he is in favor of wasting our precious tax dollars to try and prevent these FREE citizens from using a god given natural herb? Who does he think he is protecting and from what evil? Me thinks he enjoys his booze and pharmaceuticals too much and oh yeah, he has been making a paycheck out of his B.S for years paid for by the RCMP who just want to justify their existence. he needs to go the way of the dinosaur.

      James

      May 12, 2013 at 6:09pm

      Wow, his statements are truly laughable to anyone who uses pot or knows someone who does. If organized crime syndicates don't sell pot in B.C. does that mean all the illegal pot we buy is purchased directly from small-scale growers? Regardless, how would legalizing growing and possessing make it easier to export it? There would still be customs searches and seizures. Where did he get the number 585,000? Is that supposed to be the amount of people who use it regularly, or ever? But the funniest part is the bit about "a few joints" as if no one in B.C. consumes much weed at all. Those are the things that make him look ridiculous: the thing that makes him evil is that he is presumably extremely knowledgeable in his field, and is therefore outright lying to the public about the relationship between prohibition and organized crime.