420 Warrior
Well-Known Member
It's time for the conversation to begin.
A group of B.C. public health officers has joined a growing coalition of policy leaders urging the legalization and taxation of marijuana.
The Health Officers Council of B.C. voted to endorse Stop the Violence B.C. and called for regulation of illegal substances like marijuana to reduce the harm from substance use and the unintended consequences of government policies.
"The Health Officer's Council and other experts are not saying that marijuana should be legalized and taxed because it is safe," said Dr. Paul Hasselback, a Vancouver Island medical health officer who chairs the council.
"We are saying that proven public health approaches should be used to constrain its use. There is now more danger to the public's health in perpetuating a market driven by criminal activity."
The coalition argues prohibition has failed and enforcement has little impact on drug use, merely fueling the $7-billion illegal pot industry that experts say is directly linked to the spike in gang-related killings since 1997.
A report released by Stop the Violence says teens find it easy to buy marijuana and pot use among them is up considerably since the 1990s, despite heavy spending on drug enforcement.
"By every metric, this policy is failing to meet its objectives," said Dr. Evan Wood, a Vancouver doctor and founder of the coalition.
By regulating the market, he said, the distribution and use of marijuana would be more controlled and would also eliminate organized crime from the equation.
It would also provide a source of tax revenue in the hundreds of millions, he added.
Cannabis arrests in Canada climbed from 39,000 in 1990 to more than 65,000 in 2009, according to the coalition.
An estimated 27 per cent of young B.C. residents aged 15-24 used pot at least once in 2008, according to one poll.
Four former Vancouver mayors have also backed the coalition. Earlier this year the Prince George Chamber of Commerce put forward a motion at the B.C. Chamber of Commerce annual general meeting calling for the legalization of marijuana. Regrettably, that motion was defeated.
The now-defunct Progress Board of B.C. made a similar call years ago.
However, it is not on the agenda of any level of government. Here in Prince George there has been much hand-wringing over once again carrying the mantle of Canada's most dangerous city, yet legalization of marijuana has not been a topic of any of our crime reduction strategies.
The provincial government doesn't have enough sitting days to have a meaningful debate about anything anymore and debating legalizing marijuana certainly isn't on their radar.
The federal government, hell-bent on building more prisons and finding people to put in them, don't want to debate the issue either.
And they won't unless the public demands it.
More and more groups and organizations are calling for something to be done because it is obvious that what we are doing now isn't working . in fact we are failing miserably.
Whether legalization of marijuana is the answer or the outcome doesn't really matter.
What matters is that governments, at all levels, start the conversation. The public is increasingly demanding something be done. It's time our governments actually listened, and did something.
News Hawk - 420 Warrior 420 MAGAZINE
Source: Prince George Free Press (CN BC)
Contact: editor@pgfreepress.com
Copyright: 2011 BC Newspaper Group
Website: www.pgfreepress.com
A group of B.C. public health officers has joined a growing coalition of policy leaders urging the legalization and taxation of marijuana.
The Health Officers Council of B.C. voted to endorse Stop the Violence B.C. and called for regulation of illegal substances like marijuana to reduce the harm from substance use and the unintended consequences of government policies.
"The Health Officer's Council and other experts are not saying that marijuana should be legalized and taxed because it is safe," said Dr. Paul Hasselback, a Vancouver Island medical health officer who chairs the council.
"We are saying that proven public health approaches should be used to constrain its use. There is now more danger to the public's health in perpetuating a market driven by criminal activity."
The coalition argues prohibition has failed and enforcement has little impact on drug use, merely fueling the $7-billion illegal pot industry that experts say is directly linked to the spike in gang-related killings since 1997.
A report released by Stop the Violence says teens find it easy to buy marijuana and pot use among them is up considerably since the 1990s, despite heavy spending on drug enforcement.
"By every metric, this policy is failing to meet its objectives," said Dr. Evan Wood, a Vancouver doctor and founder of the coalition.
By regulating the market, he said, the distribution and use of marijuana would be more controlled and would also eliminate organized crime from the equation.
It would also provide a source of tax revenue in the hundreds of millions, he added.
Cannabis arrests in Canada climbed from 39,000 in 1990 to more than 65,000 in 2009, according to the coalition.
An estimated 27 per cent of young B.C. residents aged 15-24 used pot at least once in 2008, according to one poll.
Four former Vancouver mayors have also backed the coalition. Earlier this year the Prince George Chamber of Commerce put forward a motion at the B.C. Chamber of Commerce annual general meeting calling for the legalization of marijuana. Regrettably, that motion was defeated.
The now-defunct Progress Board of B.C. made a similar call years ago.
However, it is not on the agenda of any level of government. Here in Prince George there has been much hand-wringing over once again carrying the mantle of Canada's most dangerous city, yet legalization of marijuana has not been a topic of any of our crime reduction strategies.
The provincial government doesn't have enough sitting days to have a meaningful debate about anything anymore and debating legalizing marijuana certainly isn't on their radar.
The federal government, hell-bent on building more prisons and finding people to put in them, don't want to debate the issue either.
And they won't unless the public demands it.
More and more groups and organizations are calling for something to be done because it is obvious that what we are doing now isn't working . in fact we are failing miserably.
Whether legalization of marijuana is the answer or the outcome doesn't really matter.
What matters is that governments, at all levels, start the conversation. The public is increasingly demanding something be done. It's time our governments actually listened, and did something.
News Hawk - 420 Warrior 420 MAGAZINE
Source: Prince George Free Press (CN BC)
Contact: editor@pgfreepress.com
Copyright: 2011 BC Newspaper Group
Website: www.pgfreepress.com