Premier Christy Clark is missing a valuable trick by ignoring the resurgence in calls for the legalization of marijuana.
Victoria City Council is the latest to add its voice to the notion that the war on drugs has failed and that many B.C. municipalities are increasingly affected by the harms of cannabis prohibition.
Our city’s plea joins that of four former B.C. attorney generals, four former Vancouver mayors, and several other districts around the Island, such as Mechosin, who are now speaking out for a change to laws that make very little sense to anyone.
Despite its good intentions, however, all city council can do is draft a letter to the federal government and encourage other forward-thinking municipalities to do the same. And no offense to the office of our fashionable mayor (yes, I love the socks), but I can guess just where Harper and Co. will file such requests.
However, if Premier Clark was to take up the cause and become the first provincial leader to admit that legalizing marijuana (and repealing marijuana convictions) would be beneficial to our government coffers, our police force, our courts and our penal system, she may suddenly see her party’s approval rating heading back in the right direction.
The premier’s job is to stand up for this province and its population even if that stance flies in the face of the prime minister’s heavy-handed agenda. Clark has the power to move this call for action out of the recycling bin and onto the prime minister’s desk.
Voters respond to strength, and if the majority of British Columbians want to see these archaic laws changed isn’t it about time that our province’s leader lines up beside us and demands that Ottawa opens its ears?
And by stepping up to the plate now — even knowing that Harper will attempt to brush it aside — Clark can ensure that other parties are listening so that when a new federal leader comes into power in the near future, change just might have a chance. M
Song stuck in my head
“Every now and again, you need to attach a pair of battery clamps to your soul and turn up the juice; get that electricity flowing from the soles of your feet to the very tips of every hair follicle on your head.” That’s how I begin my online review (http://bit.ly/GMeHzX) of Shane Koyczan’s show at Spark Fest last week, so you can probably tell I was impressed. If you missed the show and are now kicking yourself (and rightly so), you’ll be happy to hear that his new album, Remembrance Year, with his band The Short Story Long is nearly as impressive as seeing him live. Honest, pure and inspirational.