Hey everyone,

Peggy Nash, the NDP MP and candidate for Leader of the NDP will be in British Columbia in the coming days, and we'd like to invite you to attend her events! Peggy has been the most progressive NDP leadership candidate on marijuana and medical marijuana policy. Peggy supports the end of marijuana prohibition and the institution of a legal regulatory framework for recreational marijuana. She also believes major reforms to the medical marijuana program are necessary so medical marijuana is readily available to those who need it.

Come down, meet Peggy, and get involved in her campaign to become the next leader of the NDP and the Official Opposition!

Peggy will be hosting events in Vancouver, Coquitlam and Surrey:

Vancouver Town Hall with Peggy Nash
Orpheum Annex, doors at 6:30, event from 7:00 - 9:00 pm
823 Seymour Street, 2nd floor, Vancouver
http://www.facebook.com/events/256984934374438/

Meet and Greet in Coquitlam
Roo’s Pub and Grill, 6:00 - 9:00 pm
2962 Christmas Way, Coquitlam
http://www.facebook.com/events/160329080745128/

Meet and Greet in Surrey
Bear Creek Pub, 7:00 - 9:00 pm
101-13588 88th Ave, Surrey
http://www.facebook.com/events/307413255975753/

For more information on Peggy and the other NDP Leadership candidates, check out the survey put together by “End Prohibition: NDP Against the Drug War”:
http://www.endprohibition.ca/2012leadershipsurveyresponses

For more information about Peggy Nash, check out:
http://peggynash.ca

By. The Canadian Press

OTTAWA — Don't fear the reefer. That's the message to the Conservative government from a group that fights to legalize pot.

The Beyond Prohibition Foundation says weed could be a real cash crop for Canada.

"We're talking about $400 million (that) is spent every year arresting just about 50,000 (people) -- plus or minus a few thousand people, depending on the year -- and that's just for possession," said Jacob Hunter, the Vancouver-based group's policy director.

"It goes up to 80,000 when you factor in trafficking and production. So we're talking about $400 million in savings on the possession side and then about $2 billion in revenue, assuming a whole number of variables.

"It gets a little complicated on the revenue side, because you have to figure out what the usage rate is, what the tax rate is, etc., etc. But it's a net gain for the government of about $2.4 billion." Read more »

by Dana Larsen

How you can help to end prohibition in BC, no matter where you are!

There are several key candidates running in BC's civic elections, and anyone in the world can help donate to their campaigns.

Elect Randy Caine in Langley

One key figure on BC's municipal scene is Randy Caine, who is running for a seat on Langley City Council.

Randy Caine has been involved in the cannabis movement for many years. In 2008, Caine opened a store called Hempyz in Langley, which quickly saw opposition from City Hall and Mayor Fassbender. Even though the store didn't carry pipes or bongs, just the image of the pot leaf and the presence of hemp products was enough for the Mayor and Council to attack the shop. Read more »

SIGN THE PETITION!

This week, across Canada, experts are speaking out against the massive, cruel Crime Bill that our Conservative government is rushing through Parliament.¹ Even conservative Texans are warning Canada not to follow America’s failed path of mandatory sentences and massive prison expansion.²

Now, we need a huge public outcry to stop the bill, and make Canada safer, not meaner.

Experts agree that the Crime Bill would make Canada a more dangerous place by filling new prisons with people who should not be there. Instead, experience shows that we should focus on proven strategies to prevent crime, rehabilitate people and reintegrate them into society.^1,3 The stakes are huge: if this bill passes we’ll be spending billions to trap people and create a permanent underclass of Canadians with little hope for a better life.⁴ Read more »

By TARA CARMAN, Vancouver Sun

Key elements of the federal government’s “tough on crime” package have proven costly and ineffective in other countries and will discriminate against first nations and the mentally ill, an analysis by Vancouver researchers has found.

Alana Cook and Ronald Roesch of Simon Fraser University’s psychology department looked at data from other jurisdictions that have already implemented some of the policies Canada is now pursuing in terms of cost, effect on crime rates and impact on vulnerable populations. Much of the data came from the United States.

Many of the changes to the Criminal Code that have been either enacted or proposed by the Conservative government in the last five years have the effect of increasing prison terms. But two meta-analyses of studies conducted in Canada indicate that longer prison terms result in criminals being slightly more likely to reoffend upon release, the researchers pointed out. Read more »

By. Mick Sweetman, Rabble.ca

Stepping out of a cold, windy Toronto Wednesday night and into the Church of the Redeemer on Bloor street, I'm a little shocked as the warmth of the standing room only crowd hits me. Hundreds of people are here to listen to a panel discussion on Bill C-10, a crime bill being introduced by the Canadian government. The panellists sitting on the stage look small and unobtrusive in comparison to the high ceilings, big stained glass windows and large yellow brick walls with the words "I know that my redeemer liveth" looming over them. But the mental contrast tonight is between the vast open space of the church we're in and the small confines of a seven square metre prison cell.

Bill C-10 is a massive piece of legislation of roughly 100 pages that rolls nine laws from organized and drug crime, to pardons, to child sex offenders, to migrants entering Canada and young offenders into a single omnibus law. The panel is focusing on how the bill's policy on mandatory minimum sentencing for selling, or even giving away a small amount of drugs, will criminalize a generation and attack some of the most vulnerable people in our society. Read more »