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BCMP Urges Immediate Moves Toward
Regulated Cannabis Distribution
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Vancouver City Hall
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Today the Vancouver
City Council unanimously adopted “Preventing Harm From Psychoactive Substance
Use,” a plan that, among other things, calls for an end to prohibition and
the regulated distribution of cannabis.
Kirk Tousaw, general counsel to the British Columbia Marijuana Party, was on
hand to speak to Council about the plan and to unveil a proposed bylaw that
would establish performance standards for retail cannabis establishments.
The Vancouver Plan
The prevention plan covers a wide range of substances. It includes
recommendations on legal and currently-illegal substances. Importantly, the
plan represents a major push forward on one of Vancouver’s “Four Pillars” of
drug policy: prevention. Worthy of note is that the plan’s definition of
prevention deems it to be preventing harm, not simply preventing use. In
fact, the plan recognizes the human reality that: “Substance use occurs along
a spectrum from beneficial, to non-problematic or casual use, through to
problematic or harmful use.”
The concept of a spectrum of use is one key part of the underlying philosophy
of the plan. Another is the recognition that regulated markets are an
essential part of preventing harm to our society. According to the Vancouver
Plan: “The intent of creating regulated markets for currently illegal
substances is to better control their public availability. Regulated markets
support the idea that ‘No drug is made safer left in the hands of organized
criminals and unregulated dealers.’(Transform, 2005).”
The Vancouver Plan also recognizes the prohibition has failed: “The results
of alcohol prohibition and the current pervasiveness of drug-related harm
demonstrate that prohibition has little control over the production, supply
and use of illegal substances. There is no indication that prohibition
reduces the prevalence or incidence of drug use, decreases drug traffic or
stops the production of illegal substances.”
Because of this failure, the plan sets out a new category of harm, calling it
“policy-related harm.” This is what activists have been calling
“prohibition-related harm” for years. The Vancouver Plan breaks
policy-related harm into four distinct types: (1) creation of crime; (2) a
criminal justice system crisis; (3) wasted resources and lost tax dollars;
(4) the undermining of public health and maximization of social harm. This
recognition by a major Canadian city represents an important step forward in
the path to progressive drug policy reform.
Specifically in the area of cannabis policy, the Vancouver Plan endorses
major policy change (at the end of the article you can find a link to the
plan itself):
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Vancouver mayor Larry Campbell
and former mayor Philip Owen
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Recommendation: That the Federal Government
implement further legislative changes to create a legal regulatory framework
for cannabis in order to enable municipalities to develop comprehensive
cannabis strategies that promote public health objectives, include
appropriate regulatory controls for cannabis related products, and support
the development of public education approaches to cannabis use and related
harm based on best evidence. (emphasis added)
In other words, the City of Vancouver believes that cannabis should be grown,
sold and consumed in a legal environment.
BCMP Responds to the Vancouver Plan
The BCMP endorses the Vancouver Plan and its recommendations. For too long we
have seen our society suffer at the hands of the drug warriors. We are now at
a turning point and Vancouver is leading Canadian cities and towns toward a
better future. Kirk Tousaw spoke to the Vancouver City Council about the
plan.
“I told the Council that the plan represented a transformative vision and
applauded the City for moving in the right direction,” said Tousaw. “I had to
point out, though, that the tragic irony of cannabis policy is that one of
Vancouver’s four pillars – enforcement – has been recognized as the primary
contributor to the harm associated with the plant. The Le Dain Commission
recognized this in 1972 and the Senate, thirty years later, re-emphasized it.
Because of this, I told the City that it should not wait for Ottawa to reform
the law but should, instead, begin to take action to bring its transformative
vision into the concrete world of the here and now.”
Tousaw described a draft bylaw to the Council. Drafted by Tousaw in
connection with Don Briere’s bid for city council, the bylaw sets up ten
performance standards for cannabis retail establishments. “I told Council
that the bylaw had standards that everyone would agree are important: no
selling to minors, no sales of “hard” drugs, odor control, security,
basically the things that you would in any business. I also included a
requirement that cannabis establishments be good neighbors by providing 24
hour contact information to other businesses in the area.”
The bylaw would achieve its goals by emulating a Seattle, Washington city
ordinance. “City council has no jurisdiction to change the law,” continued
Tousaw, “but the City does set the police budget and the Mayor, as chair of
the Vancouver Police Board, has the ability to influence police priorities.
The proposal, then, would be that the enforcement of cannabis-related
offences at an establishment meeting the performance criteria would be the
lowest police priority in Vancouver.”
Briere, a BCMP candidate in the last provincial election, also spoke to the
Council. He told of his time in jail as a victim of prohibition, and the
other men he met inside who were also casualties of the drug war. According
to Briere, cannabis was available in prison at the rate of $100 per gram. In
conclusion, he thanked the City for taking steps in the right direction.
For more information and a full text of the Vancouver Plan, view the PDF
file here: http://vancouver.ca/ctyclerk/cclerk/20051103/documents/p2complete.pdf
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