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Four former Vancouver mayors call for end to "failed policy" of marijuana prohibition
The following letter was released today (November 23) by the Stop the Violence B.C. coalition:
From: Sam Sullivan, Michael Harcourt, Larry Campbell, and Philip Owen
To: All B.C. MPs, MLAs, Mayors and Councillors
Re: Call to Action – Marijuana prohibition and its effects on violent crime, community safety, and the health and well-being of our citizens
As former Mayors of the City of Vancouver, we are asking all elected leaders in British Columbia to speak out about the ineffectiveness and harms of cannabis prohibition.
Marijuana prohibition is – without question – a failed policy. It is creating violent, gang-related crime in our communities and fear among our citizens, and adding financial costs for all levels of government at a time when we can least afford them. Politicians cannot ignore the status quo any longer; they must develop and deliver alternative marijuana policies that avoid the social and criminal harms that stem directly from cannabis prohibition.
Among the most pressing issues is the contribution that cannabis prohibition has made to organized crime and gang violence. The Fraser Institute has estimated that B.C.’s illegal cannabis trade may be worth up to $7 billion dollars annually. This massive illegal market drives violence in communities throughout the province. New thinking, new policies and collaboration across party lines are required to protect our communities and make them safer.
Unfortunately, research and practical experience from Canada, the U.S. and elsewhere clearly demonstrates that increasing anti-cannabis law enforcement strategies will not reduce the availability to young people. Cannabis prohibition has failed globally. While we fully recognize that marijuana is not without health-related harms, the failure of cannabis prohibition to reduce the availability of the drug to young people requires an urgent and novel response.
We agree with the Stop the Violence BC coalition and the criminologists, economists, lawyers, law enforcement and public health experts under its umbrella: we must move from a violent unregulated market to a strictly regulated cannabis market that is based on a public health framework. We believe a legally regulated market for adult cannabis use has the potential to reduce rates of cannabis use while at the same time directly addressing organized crime concerns by starving them of this cash cow. A regulated market would enable governments to improve community health and safety while at the same time raising millions in tax revenue.
The time for action is now. A recent Angus Reid poll demonstrated that 69% of British Columbians believe that chasing and arresting marijuana producers and sellers is ineffective and that British Columbians would be better off taxing and regulating the adult use of marijuana. We fully agree.
Clearly, elected officials are out of step with their public on marijuana prohibition. It is time that elected officials enter the debate and deliver specific proposals to address the easy availability of cannabis to youth and the organized crime concerns stemming directly from cannabis prohibition.
If you agree, please step forward, join this call for change and add your influential voice to the debate. In addition, we encourage you to notify Stop the Violence BC of your endorsement so that they may profile your support and adjust their education efforts accordingly.
If you disagree, there is nevertheless an ethical and moral obligation to join the debate, because the stakes for our communities, our youth and our fellow British Columbians are so high.
Politicians of all stripes – not just at the federal level – must respond before further damage is done to our B.C. communities. We must break the silence on this issue. The status quo must change.
Signed,
Sam Sullivan, Mayor of Vancouver, 2005-2008
Larry Campbell, Mayor of Vancouver, 2002-2005
Philip Owen, Mayor of Vancouver, 1993-2002
Mike Harcourt, Mayor of Vancouver, 1980-1986
So, are you on the payroll as a DrugCop, or do you have a basement grow, or are you simply a bit...slow?
Hint: drug of choice is not marijuana.
If that change really happened, the applecart would really be upended and the DTES would stop being a special trading zone for addicts and the activists who enable them.
Bad plan, mayors. The DTES is operated as a permanent ghetto by the people who benefit from keeping it as it is. You know, drug dealers, whores, activists. The usual crew.
You realize at least half the pot dealers in Vancouver are high school kids, right? I don't think its a bad thing for them to go broke and focus on other things, like getting an education.
Also you realize the addicts you speak of are on cocaine and heroin..... not marijuna, right?
Also... leave whores and activists out of it you fucking douche.
You don't seem to have very much sympathy for drug dealers. You don;t even care if they all go bankrupt. They supply half the $ that goes into the DTES. They keep that area in the beautiful state it's in. Without the drug dealers, what would the runners and enforcers and slumlords and activists do for a living?
Holy Kow Komodo. You want the DTES to change?
That's not fair. The DTES runs the way it does because the drug dealers like it that way. 947 drug dealers in 12 city blocks can't be wrong.
Miguel
You would be hard pressed to find anything to smoke or cookies to eat when it come to the medical plant especially on the street but medical outlets are now open for many who used to buy off the streets.
https://twitter.com/#!/MayorGregor/status/139908426410102785
It's time to pull our collective heads out of our asses. Prohibition has not, will not, and does not work.
And for you neighsayers, NO I do not smoke, inject, snort or pop any form of intoxicant.
I am an educated individual who realizes that the only people gaining from the War on Drugs are the producers of illegal drugs and the Agencies that justify their budgets by the enforcement of unwinable laws.
The war on drugs, is on people not drugs or terrorism or crime. It's establishing ends that justify the means in policing, It has failed, but it isn't prohibitive law, but how they enforce it, what they let cops get away with. The Drug War is a myth among criminal wars which is about turf in all things. Protection, et al.... Crime is about end justifying the means, sad thing is they let cops act like criminals to enforce criminal law. Means must justify the end in order to be truly good. As for legalization it's usually the people arguing for making it hard to support it. Of course real legalization isn't what is argued, it's more tax and regulation. Liquor would be better without all the statist crap. Got to finish what was started there. Alcohol isn't worse, unless vaporized. cigarettes may be as bad but more subtle, aside from the plant it comes from. A weed chokes plants. They need to ease up on single user plants and plantable amounts being found and arrested for. Any reasonable doubt situation should evade this. The Mental Health Act should not be used under police assumptions either or no trial and one dube will lead to an addiction detainment. What will Gregor do about forced drugings? The province?
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