Challenge to Kamloops mayor and councillors . . .

At the March 22, 2012, meeting of Victoria City council, the following motion supporting a regulatory approach to cannabis control was carried unanimously:

WHEREAS cannabis prohibition efforts have failed to effectively limit the availability of cannabis, especially to our youth;

WHEREAS cannabis prohibition has created a large financial opportunity that has fuelled an increasingly violent illegal market with expanding organized crime involvement;

WHEREAS academic, law enforcement and health experts, including the Health Officer’s Council of BC, believe that a strictly controlled public health oriented regulatory framework for cannabis control has the potential to reduce rates of cannabis use, raise substantial tax revenue, undermine organized crime and save law enforcement time and expenditures;

WHEREAS many B.C. municipalities are increasingly affected by the harms of cannabis prohibition (e.g. grow-ops, etc.), which negatively impacts community health and safety;

WHEREAS B.C. municipalities are increasingly bearing the financial burden of failed policy approaches that emphasize enforcement of marijuana prohibition over evidence-based policies, consuming significant portions of municipal budgets and diverting law enforcement attention away from criminal activities where police involvement can better improve community safety;

THEREFORE BE IT RESOLVED that the City of Victoria supports the taxation and regulation of cannabis to address the ineffectiveness and harm of cannabis prohibition, and agrees to write to municipalities in the Capital Regional District, the Union of B.C. Municipalities, the Federation of Canadian Municipalities, and provincial and federal ministers in the Justice and Health departments to inform them of our support.

It would be interesting to see if Kamloops Council could be as progressive.

BRYAN ELLIOTT

Westwold