By now you've heard about the amazing victories in Washington and Colorado, two states which voted to legalize cannabis at the state level on November 6.
In Washington, possession of up to an ounce of cannabis will become legal on December 6 when the law comes into force. Prosecutors have already begun dropping hundreds of possession charges across the state.
Washington state officials now have one year to figure out how to set up a state-run network of cannabis shops that will sell the herb to adults.
Pot advocates in B.C. say now that voters in Washington have passed a law to legalize possession of marijuana, it is time for a similar referendum here.
On Tuesday 55 per cent of voters in Washington State approved Initiative 502, legalizing the possession of up to one ounce of marijuana by anyone over the age of 21.
The initiative also taxes and regulates the production and sale of cannabis, and makes it illegal to drive while under its influence.
A similar initiative was also approved by voters in Colorado, but one in Oregon was rejected by voters on Tuesday.
For all the hype, says Const. David Bratzer, the life of a downtown cop is about wordplay more often than gunplay. As the scores of drug offenders who’ve served jail time at his insistence will attest, his main weapon isn’t his service revolver, it’s polite, persistent persuasion. As he unrolls his six-foot frame from a floatplane in Vancouver harbour on a humid summer morning, that’s a weapon he plans to level once again at the very drug laws he’s charged with enforcing. “It’s tough for a cop to admit,” he says, heading down the wharf while buttoning his charcoal jacket, “but our laws just don’t make sense.”
A recent report on British Columbia crime trends shows the number of marijuana possession charges continues to climb, despite the fact many British Columbians want to see marijuana decriminalized.
The crime trends report, released in late October by the police services division of the B.C. Ministry of Justice, showed an 88-per-cent increase in possession charges over the last decade: to 3,774 charges last year from 2,004 charges in 2002.
While Barack Obama and Mitt Romney make most of the U.S. election headlines, a referendum in Washington state may have a more profound effect on British Columbians.
The multibillion-dollar B.C. bud industry is watching carefully as Washington, Oregon and Colorado vote on whether to legalize marijuana.
Pot watchers believe Washington stands the best chance of legalizing the drug, which would immediately affect B.C.’s growers and exporters as well as the ongoing campaign to decriminalize marijuana in B.C.
“It’s likely there’s going to be pretty significant changes,” SFU criminology professor Neil Boyd said if Washingtonians legalize pot. “There is a big gap between the science and the marijuana laws.
Are you aware that passing Initiative 502 is one of the best ways to reduce international gang violence?
Like the violent cartels gripping Mexico, British Columbia is affected by the organized-crime groups which control its huge marijuana industry. These gangs produce and export BC Bud to American consumers, including the 6.8 million residents of Washington state.
When they head to the polls in less than two weeks, voters in Washington State will do more than help elect a new president – they’ll also decide whether to become the first U.S. state to legalize marijuana. And a win for Initiative 502 could have ramifications clear across the border, boosting the bid to legalize the drug in Canada while striking a blow to the multibillion-dollar B.C. bud industry.
Geoff Plant, B.C.’s former attorney-general and a member of Stop the Violence BC, a coalition calling for changes to Canada’s drug policies, said in an interview Wednesday that Initiative 502’s most important impact north of the border would be politically.
B.C. MLA Kash Heed has added his voice to the growing list of politicians calling for the legalization of marijuana.
The former West Vancouver police chief and MLA for Vancouver-Fraserview said in a news release Thursday that in his 31 years of law enforcement he has seen the “devastating consequences” of pot prohibition.
He believes legalization and taxation will reduce organized crime activity from the illegal drug trade.
“In the early 1990s, I began to fully recognize the futility and the social, economic and public health costs of continuing marijuana prohibition,” he said, in the statement.
Cannabis activists don’t see a friend in Justin Trudeau, the presumptive frontrunner in the race for the federal Liberal leadership.
“There are some people in the marijuana movement who say he’s [Pierre] Trudeau’s son, and he’s our best hope,” Jodie Emery told the Georgia Straight in a phone interview. “But personally, I don’t find him appealing.”
“Besides being a pretty boy”, she said that there’s not much to be said about the popular politician.
Emery recalled that, in 2009, Trudeau voted in support of Bill C-15, Conservative legislation that sought to impose mandatory minimum jail time for pot-related offences.
Mainstream B.C. stood up in public Wednesday and moved the marijuana debate much closer to decriminalization than ever before.
The resolution passed at the Union of B.C. Municipalities convention in Victoria is the clearest indication yet of how far the "get tough with criminal pot smokers" stance has eroded.
More than 500 delegates considered a motion that declared the status quo a failure and urged decriminalization of marijuana, coupled with research on regulation and taxation.
After a passionate debate, they passed it by open show of hands. It was endorsed by such a clear margin - probably 60 per cent plus - they didn't even bother to count the votes.
Welcome to WhyProhibition.ca. We are working to repeal the prohibition of cannabis by organizing and educating the public. Sign up to get activism alerts, and access to organizing tools.
By now you've heard about the amazing victories in Washington and Colorado, two states which voted to legalize cannabis at the state level on November 6.
Pot advocates in B.C. say now that voters in Washington have passed a law to legalize possession of marijuana, it is time for a similar referendum here.
For all the hype, says Const. David Bratzer, the life of a downtown cop is about wordplay more often than gunplay. As the scores of drug offenders who’ve served jail time at his insistence will attest, his main weapon isn’t his service revolver, it’s polite, persistent persuasion. As he unrolls his six-foot frame from a floatplane in Vancouver harbour on a humid summer morning, that’s a weapon he plans to level once again at the very drug laws he’s charged with enforcing. “It’s tough for a cop to admit,” he says, heading down the wharf while buttoning his charcoal jacket, “but our laws just don’t make sense.”
A recent report on British Columbia crime trends shows the number of marijuana possession charges continues to climb, despite the fact many British Columbians want to see marijuana decriminalized. 
Are you aware that passing Initiative 502 is one of the best ways to reduce international gang violence?
When they head to the polls in less than two weeks, voters in Washington State will do more than help elect a new president – they’ll also decide whether to become the first U.S. state to legalize marijuana. And a win for Initiative 502 could have ramifications clear across the border, boosting the bid to legalize the drug in Canada while striking a blow to the multibillion-dollar B.C. bud industry.
Cannabis activists don’t see a friend in Justin Trudeau, the presumptive frontrunner in the race for the federal Liberal leadership.
Mainstream B.C. stood up in public Wednesday and moved the marijuana debate much closer to decriminalization than ever before.
