Eight B.C. mayors sign letter in support of marijuana legalization

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      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.

      Comments

      15 Comments

      Mike Robinson

      Apr 26, 2012 at 4:43pm

      So many people agree with the principle of legalizing marijuana including most police chiefs and officers in the country. Let's stop subsidizing the product for organized crime to profit from and base our laws on science and fact rather than twisted moralities that figure they know what is best for others. If you want harm reduction, look to alcohol and its insidious effects.

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      john smith

      Apr 26, 2012 at 4:55pm

      Unfortunately, the twisted moralists are in charge of the country. How the he** did that happen?

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      full throttle

      Apr 26, 2012 at 5:47pm

      Good idea, all engineers, nurses and doctors should be stoned all the time and not just burned out mayors who are pandering to the 10% of the idiots in this world.

      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.

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      exxorcist

      Apr 26, 2012 at 6:51pm

      @full throttle Engineers, nurses and doctors are already getting stoned. There's evidence in Portugal and the Netherlands to say that decriminalization of marijuana doesn't lead to increased use.

      Plum Duff

      Apr 26, 2012 at 9:08pm

      Possibly the most idiotic comment on the subject, of all time.

      Good job.

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      Krystalblue

      Apr 26, 2012 at 10:45pm

      Jesum Crow, full throttle! What makes you think your surgeon (or anyone who's part of the surgical team) performing a procedure on you hasn't had a 3-martini lunch, or breakfast for that matter?! Just because legalization is being suggested doesn't mean everyone is going to go out and be stoned all the time, everywhere if it is!
      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.

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      full throttle

      Apr 26, 2012 at 11:35pm

      exxocist and plum dumb, don't be stupid, stupids. Shit, when you make a rational comment in a rag like the Georgia Straight, you don't expect it go over well.

      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.

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      full throttle

      Apr 27, 2012 at 12:31am

      PS, I hate yellow ties, especially on a politician.

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      Lorraine Copland

      Apr 27, 2012 at 12:35am

      As I look out my office window in The Hague I see all the buildings are standing, the bridges are handling a constant flow of traffic, not a single coworker around me is stoned and, what's more, when I go to the doctor's, I get the treatment I need. The main problem here in the Netherlands is drug tourism, foreigners who do not yet know how to handle this sort of freedom.

      Jim Van Rassel

      Apr 27, 2012 at 7:38am

      Cuz your broke, you have no regard for our money like Ms Oda, and you have successfully sucked the tax-payer dry, and are disparately looking for a new revenue stream.
      Jim Van Rassel
      Coquitlam BC

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