Login / RegisterEight B.C. mayors sign letter in support of marijuana legalization
Eight B.C. mayors including Vancouver’s Gregor Robertson have issued a letter urging provincial political leaders to support the regulation and taxation of marijuana.
In a letter released today by Stop the Violence B.C., the mayors expressed their support for the coalition’s campaign to overturn marijuana prohibition in an effort to reduce crime.
“We see a seemingly endless stream of anti-marijuana law enforcement initiatives in our communities, yet marijuana remains widely and easily available to our youth,” the letter reads.
“Based on the evidence before us, we know that laws that aim to control the marijuana industry are ineffective and, like alcohol prohibition in the US in the 1920s, have led to violent unintended consequences.”
The letter, addressed to B.C. Premier Christy Clark, NDP Leader Adrian Dix and Conservative Leader John Cummins, is also signed by Burnaby’s Derek Corrigan, North Vancouver mayor Darrell Mussatto, Lake Country mayor James Baker, Armstrong mayor Chris Pieper, Metchosin mayor John Ranns, Enderby mayor Howie Cyr, and Vernon mayor Robert Sawatzky.
“It is time to tax and strictly regulate marijuana under a public health framework; regulating marijuana would allow the government to rationally address the health concerns of marijuana, raise government tax revenue and eliminate the huge profits from the marijuana industry that flow directly to organized crime,” the mayors wrote.
The eight mayors say they will be recommending that the Union of B.C. Municipalities support a motion in favour of taxation and regulation of marijuana.
“We also encourage politicians to speak their conscience, even if their views go beyond the silence coming from the political parties themselves,” they wrote.
The letter comes as Vancouver city council is set to discuss a motion to endorse the Stop the Violence B.C campaign next week.
“This is not a partisan issue,” Robertson said in a news release. “Widespread access to marijuana for our youth, grow-ops that provide funds for organized crime, and significant costs to taxpayers for enforcement are all compelling reasons to re-examine our failed approach to prohibition.”
Council will vote on the motion next Tuesday (May 1).
Similar motions were recently passed by other B.C. municipalities, including North Vancouver.
Stop the Violence B.C. is a coalition of law enforcement officials, legal experts, public health officials and academic experts from the University of British Columbia, Simon Fraser University, University of Victoria, and the University of Northern B.C.
That way, when a bridge falls down or someone dies of the wrong medication, we can all shrug it off. Do what you were voted in to do fuck ups: run your city and keep taxes in line.
Good job.
Legal or not, people can wander thru' life clean & sober...or not so much. But the idea of eliminating the prohibition-style times we currently live in as far as marijuana (or all illicit drugs) goes, could mean eliminating the targeted-hits lifestyles reminiscent of Al Capone, Babyface Nelson and all the trendy gang-related violence that accessorizes that way of being. That's the point, which you seem to have missed.
If there are fucked up engineers, doctors or nurses, who can't handle the stress and have to use drugs to cope they should get the fuck out of their professions and join the ranks of the fucked up idiots like you. Fuck off, idiots.
Jim Van Rassel
Coquitlam BC
NO DUMBASS because when you legalize pot it will make it CHEAPER, not more expensive. I swear all you right wing nuts are about as DUMB as they can get.
x certain jobs i.e. Doctors, Truckies etc. should not be allowed to smoke pot on lunch breaks just as they are not allowed to drink booze.
x I hate the skunk odour. I can imagine that others may like it, and that pot smokers while smoking certainly don't care. However the odour can be very strong and annoying. Wonder how that's gonna work out when people puff on their condo balconeys in densely urban hoods - that must be annoying for neighbours (some)
that's pretty much it. Other than that I am of the opinion that the Vancouver Mayor is a populist who's not really doing his job. The guy should carefully handle the money of mostly landlords he gets . He should be punished if he wastes the money. His biz should be to protect landlords against wasteful spending and keep run a tight ship. No Taxation without representation, and freeloaders should basicly shut up.
Try to think about these points a bit:
1)
BC's currently illegal marijuana industry produces over 2 BILLION dollars in revenue every year. That's a lot of money that could be put back into the province.
2)
There are anti-smoking laws which would apply to marijuana as well as cigarettes, preventing people from affecting others with their smoke in "reasonable ways". As it is currently, you cannot smoke a cigarette within 6 meters of any door, window, or air intake/outtake.
3)
Similar laws to alcohol laws would likely be put in place (eg: no toking and driving, no toking in a public place, no selling to underage minors, etc). So the practices of preventing "problems" from marijuana would be downsized. (Besides, kids can get substances if they try hard enough. Where there's a will, there's a way)
4)
Like alcohol, or any other substance legal or otherwise, people do not always do important things while under the influence of anything, legal or otherwise (eg: surgery, engineering, construction, etc.)
5)
Look up "responsible drug use" there's plenty of info out there on that subject
6)
At least briefly research both sides of the argument before you make a decision.