B.C. pot petition would end enforcement of possession laws

[maryjane48]

A Vancouver pot activist has received approval from Elections B.C. to launch a petition aimed at stopping police from cracking down on pot smokers in the province.

The marijuana activist group Sensible B.C is behind the petition, which would work the same way as the petition that triggered the referendum that ended the HST.

[maryjane48]

"I think most British Columbians recognize that people who use marijuana whether for medical purposes or whether they simply choose marijuana instead of alcohol, those people are not criminals and that the prohibition we're engaging in now is criminalizing people that don't deserve to have that label

[maryjane48]

Four former B.C. attorneys general are joining a coalition of health and justice experts calling for the legalization of marijuana.

Colin Gabelmann, Ujjal Dosanjh, Graeme Bowbrick and Geoff Plant have all signed a letter to B.C. Premier Christy Clark and B.C. NDP Leader Adrian Dix, calling on the politicians to endorse legalizing, taxing and regulating marijuana.

http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/british-c ... alize.html

[WhatThe]

I truly hope they get the 10% in each riding for a referendum, however just because attitudes appear to be changing doesn't mean that those afraid, nay, terrified of change will find ridiculous reasons to vote no or worse, not sign the petition.
We will never know until we try.
If nothing else, since people are going to use it anyway, do you want your "kids"/family members smoking weed laced with all sorts of nasty pesticides or organically grown and regulated with labels? One wouldn't let them consume vegetables not knowing how or where they're grown.

And before someone says "you just want it legalized so you can smoke it risk free", I don't smoke it and I don't want your kids being exposed to the real gateway to destructive behaviour, associating with violent, abusive or unscrupulous people (not to say that MJ sellers and users are violent and unscrupulous, but since its illegality lends itself to organized crime it is a guaranteed potential) have connections to more serious substances.

[Jeckle]

I agree with you WhatThe, but I think this petition is just to decriminalize, not to legalize and have it supplied like cigs.
The criminal element would still be there, time wasted on busting someone for a small amount would end.
If I'm wrong, it just means we really need more info out there for the voting public before any votes take place.

[FreeRights]

I agree with you WhatThe, but I think this petition is just to decriminalize, not to legalize and have it supplied like cigs.
The criminal element would still be there, time wasted on busting someone for a small amount would end.
If I'm wrong, it just means we really need more info out there for the voting public before any votes take place.

That's true, but its a step in the right direction.

I think a lot of people will vote no, but if there's any provice in Canada that has enough people who would vote yes, its BC.

[hobbyguy]

Any step toward legalization is a good idea. Not because I endorse MJ use, I don't. But because I agree with notion that the "gateway" is not MJ, the "gateway" is the dealers and their organized crime overlords.

Prohibition doesn't work. Alcohol prohibition gave us Al Capone, and eventually was repealed.

The so called "war on drugs" gives us the likes of the Bacon brothers and worse. MJ, like alcohol, has risks. But the prohibition of MJ has even greater risks, which are playing out on our streets, and in our schools.

[Woodenhead]

Yeah, the "MJ is the gateway drug" concept has always been laughable. The real "gateway drugs" are caffeine, nicotine, alcohol, and youth. haha

[Donald G]

Reality check:

When is the last time anyone in this province was charged for toking up or having a few joints in his/her possession? How many years has it been now?

And I don't mean the trafficking, cultivation or kilo bag charges that are reduced to simple possession in exchange for a guilty plea.

[JLives]

Actually charges for possession are rising every year and BC has the highest rates in the country. http://www.vancouversun.com/news/posses ... story.html

There were just under 3,800 last year alone. Such a waste of resources.

[WhatThe]

Q. WHAT IS SENSIBLE BC AND THE SENSIBLE POLICING ACT?

Sensible BC is a group which is working to decriminalize the simple possession of cannabis in British Columbia through the Sensible Policing Act.

The Sensible Policing Act would amend the Police Act, to redirect all police in the province from taking any action, including searches, seizures, citations or arrests, in cases of simple cannabis possession by adults. This would apply to all RCMP and municipal police in BC.

Q. ISN’T MARIJUANA LAW FEDERAL JURISDICTION?

It is true that marijuana is prohibited under the Controlled Drugs and Substances Act, which is federal legislation.

However, the provinces control “administration of justice” which includes policing and police priorities. All police in BC operate under the authority of the BC Police Act. Directing the use of police resources through an amendment to the Police Act is entirely within provincial jurisdiction.

Q. HAS THIS KIND OF THING EVER BEEN DONE BEFORE?

It is common for cities and provinces across Canada to set priorities and instructions for their police and prosecutors.

For instance, over the past few years, eight provinces refused to enforce the federal Firearms Act because they did not support the Long Gun Registry. The government of British Columbia joined with seven other provinces by refusing to enforce the federal law.

In that case, provincial governments declared that “resources should be directed to the prosecution of substantive criminal offences.” We are asking for the BC government to take the same stance in regards to simple possession of cannabis.

More recently, the BC government fought for the right of InSite, the Supervised Injection Site, to continue operations despite the federal government wanting to close it down. In that case, the provincial government took the federal government to court, and won the right to keep InSite open.

Q. ISN’T MARIJUANA POSSESSION BASICALLY LEGAL IN BC ANYWAYS?

Actually, BC has Canada’s highest rate of police reported incidents for simple possession of marijuana. BC police spend about twice as much time and money as the national average on dealing with marijuana possession.

BC police spent their time on over 19,000 incidents of marijuana possession in 2010 alone, a rate of 420 incidents per 100,000 people. The national average is just 220 per 100,000. Ontario has a rate of 165, and Alberta has 195.

Q. BUT NO-ONE ACTUALLY GETS CHARGED FOR POSSESSION IN BC, RIGHT?

Over 3,580 British Columbians were charged with simple possession of marijuana last year. This is close to double the rate of charges of any other province.

The rate of pot possession charges in BC has been steadily increasing for years. In 2010, BC police charged twice as many people with marijuana possession than they did in 2005.

Q. ISN’T DECRIMINALIZATION JUST A HALFWAY MEASURE?

It’s true that we need to go further than just decriminalizing the simple possession of cannabis.

That is why the Sensible Policing Act also mandates the BC government to start figuring out the exact kinds of rules and laws that will need to be put into place for marijuana to be properly regulated and legally taxed. They can begin with lessons learned from how we deal with legal access to alcohol and tobacco.

However, decriminalizing simple possession of cannabis is a positive first step towards making these larger changes to the cannabis laws.

Q. HOW WILL THE SENSIBLE POLICING ACT AFFECT DRIVING WHILE IMPAIRED?

The Sensible Policing Act still allows police to deal with drivers impaired by marijuana or any other substance in the exact same way they always have. There are no changes in this regard.

Q. HOW WILL THE SENSIBLE POLICING ACT DEAL WITH YOUTH?

The Sensible Policing Act treats possession of marijuana by a minor in the exact same way as alcohol.

The Liquor Control Act empowers police officers to seize alcohol from minors, and to issue a ticket if they choose. The Sensible Policing Act extends that to also cover marijuana.

Q. HOW WILL YOU GET THE SENSIBLE POLICING ACT PASSED INTO LAW?

We are lobbying all political parties to support the Sensible Policing Act, and we are calling upon Premier Christy Clark to pass the Sensible Policing Act into law.

We are also promoting a provincial referendum on the Sensible Policing Act. To hold a referendum we will need to collect over 350,000 signatures from voters all across the Province.

Please register now so that we can easily collect your official signature when the time comes.

Q. HOW DOES THE REFERENDUM SYSTEM WORK?

BC’s referendum system has fixed election dates. The next one is scheduled for September 2014.

It’s not easy to get on the ballot, the HST referendum campaign is the only one ever to succeed in getting enough signatures to force a vote.

To have a provincial vote in September 2014, we need to get the signed support of 10% of registered voters in every riding. We will be officially collecting signatures for the ballot initiative in the fall of 2013.

Q. WHAT CAN I DO TO HELP?

We are asking all British Columbians who support our campaign to register now. That way we can easily collect your official signature when the time comes.

More importantly, we need people like you all across the province, to help to build awareness and support in your communities. Click here to find out what you can do to get involved in the province
http://sensiblebc.ca/faqs/#q5

[steven lloyd]

Reality check: When is the last time anyone in this province was charged for toking up or having a few joints in his/her possession? How many years has it been now?

Reality check: I know of convictions (those come after charges have been approved by Crown and proven in Court Donald) as recent as last month just in our small town - and those after wasting more than a year of the Court’s time (and your money).

p.s. no organized criminal or terrorist activity was hampered in any way by these convictions
– your police, government and tax money at work for you ;o)

[Treblehook]

One would hope there might be enough intelligence [at least collectively] amongst the pro-pot crowd to observe and assess the results of the legalization of pot in Washington State and other American jurisdictions, before pressing on in pursuit of similar legislation in this country. It seems the pot crowd has no appetite for learning the positive and negative consequences of legalization elsewhere. The attitude appears to be the hell with it... I want to smoke dope legally and could care less whether there are negative impacts to legalization. Stats have always been numbers that are easily manipulated to support almost any position, and that is most certainly the case in respect to enforcement and prosecution of persons in in BC for simple possession of marihuana. I doubt anyone would believe the assertion that all of the people charged with possession of pot during the last year were individuals who had been the subject of sustained investigation for simple possession. Maybe thery were people who were involved in trafficking of pot, but the police were only able to seize sufficient quantity to support the simple possession charge. If that was not the case, then one can be pretty sure that there were other circumstances contributing to the prosecution, beyond the person simply having a joint in their pocket. To purport otherwise is simply an attempt to mislead. The cops do not target people for simple possession of pot, and haven't done so for many years. It's kind of like the police don't launch major, expensive investigations to gather evidence and prosecute citizens for littering our streets, but you can get yourself a ticket for littering if you are a big enough idiot!

[Prestige Mike]

Actually charges for possession are rising every year and BC has the highest rates in the country. http://www.vancouversun.com/news/posses ... story.html

There were just under 3,800 last year alone. Such a waste of resources.

Interesting...I was under the impression that the police weren't really busting people for simple possession. I wonder how many of the 3,800 people charged with simple possession had other charges. I could see possession charges being tacked onto larger charges, but I'd be very surprised if the RCMP were actually charging people with having a joint or two on them.

[maryjane48]

Bathtub society denies Sensible B.C. booth



A group hoping to decriminalize marijuana posession in B.C. has been told they're not welcome at a popular Nanaimo event.

'Sensible B.C.' had a deal in place to setup a booth at Maffeo Sutton Park for bathtub weekend, however Director Dana Larson says the bathtub society has since reversed that decision.


http://www.1023thewave.com/Bathtub-soci ... h/16819612