XPost: van.general, alt.pot, can.politics   
   From: gregcarrsober@gmail.com   
      
   Daphne Bramham: Citizens, not police, should decide on Vancouver’s de   
   facto legalization of marijuana   
      
   Debate wanted: With the civic elections set for the fall, now is the   
   time for a public discussion on the VPD approach   
      
   BY DAPHNE BRAMHAM, VANCOUVER SUN COLUMNIST JULY 21, 2014 6:30 PM   
      
      
   There’s a world of difference between what’s going on in Denver and   
   Seattle when it comes to the sale of marijuana and what’s happening here   
   in Vancouver.   
      
   In Colorado and Washington, voters decided that they wanted to legalize   
   its sale. Then, legislators formulated all kinds of regulations and   
   levied hefty taxes on the growers, processors, sellers and buyers.   
      
   Here, there’s been none of that, and possession, sale and distribution   
   of marijuana are criminal offences in Canada. There’s been no vote to   
   change that and, of course, there are no regulations.   
      
   Yet, 45, so-called, medical marijuana dispensaries operate in Vancouver.   
   That’s a five-fold increase in just four years.   
      
   All it takes to buy the drug — as the Sun’s Mike Hager found recently —   
   is (at most) a fee that ranges from $25 to $90 for a quick consultation   
   with a naturopath or psychologist and then, the price of a membership.   
      
   This is happening even though under provincial law, naturopaths and   
   psychologists are not allowed to prescribe cannabis. But neither of the   
   professions’ government bodies is enforcing the regulations.   
      
   As for the Vancouver Police Departments, not only isn’t it enforcing the   
   law when it comes to the dispensaries, its policy of non-interference   
   extends to the annual, open drug markets held on July 1 and April 20   
   outside the Vancouver Art Gallery.   
      
   Earlier this month, two giant “joints” puffed out harmless smoke that   
   circled around the former courthouse. Below, the air was redolent as   
   buyers lit up their purchases from a thick cluster of stalls where   
   hand-written signs advertised the sellers’ products and, at all of them,   
   baggies of weed were openly exchanged for cash.   
      
   VPD media relations officer Brian Montague says it’s left to the   
   discretion of individual officers to enforce the sections of the   
   Criminal Code related to marijuana based on their interpretation of the   
   department’s drug policy.   
      
   The VPD’s drug policy is more than a decade old, and centres on   
   intravenous drug users and safe-injection sites as part of the city’s   
   promised four-pillars plan, which has never fully materialized.   
      
   “Vancouver has become the jurisdiction in which drug policy issues and   
   different approaches to substance abuse are implemented, evaluated and   
   debated,” it says in the introduction.   
      
   But I don’t recall a wide-ranging public debate over the de-facto   
   legalization of marijuana. And, I would remember because I’m all for   
   having an evidence-based debate on marijuana and its effects.   
      
   Here are some things I’d like to know: Is second-hand smoke from it is   
   as harmful as it is from tobacco? Is cannabis more harmful to teens and   
   young adults than older adults? Are there neurological studies on   
   long-term use and, if so, what do they conclude?   
      
   In the absence of any legal method for roadside testing, how will police   
   keep us safe from marijuana-impaired drivers? The VPD’s drug policy   
   does, after all, does say that public safety is a top priority.   
      
   And, even before Vancouver’s de-facto legalization, cannabis impairment   
   has proven fatal in B.C.   
      
   A recent analysis of 226 workplace fatalities between 2003 and 2007 done   
   by a WorkSafeBC researcher found that cannabis — not alcohol — was most   
   frequently the drug that impaired the workers’ ability to function properly.   
      
   Cannabis, not alcohol, was also the most frequently discovered   
   intoxicant among employees who were in vehicle accidents at work.   
      
   The VPD’s policy says it will target street- and middle-level,   
   psychoactive-substance traffickers and preserve the lawful use and   
   enjoyment of public and private property.   
      
   “Enforcement,” it says, “will be specifically directed at parks and   
   school grounds. Children, in particular, should not be placed at risk by   
   the negative behaviours associated with psychoactive substance abuse.”   
      
   So the art gallery lawn isn’t a park or a place where a lot of kids   
   might be on Canada Day?   
      
   But if there are only a handful of officers assigned to watch over   
   hundreds of buyers and sellers at a site, it’s easy to understand why   
   the few would choose to stand by and watch the many.   
      
   The double standard for legal drugs versus illegal is breathtaking.   
      
   You almost wonder why brewers, wineries and distillers don’t band   
   together to beg the provincial government (or at very least the VPD) to   
   be treated as outlaws.   
      
   Then, they’d have no responsibilities, no cops checking in and enforcing   
   municipal bylaws and no huge provincial bureaucracy telling them that   
   finally it’s OK to have happy hour.   
      
   They could set up shop at the art gallery selling alcohol on the lawn   
   without having to build a fence.   
      
   Their products wouldn’t have to be tested and labelled for their alcohol   
   content. They wouldn’t have to hire servers, who had passed government   
   tests, or be liable for fines if they served someone under the legal   
   drinking age or someone who was intoxicated.   
      
   In democracies, laws and regulations are supposed to supposed to develop   
   out of informed debate with the aim of maintaining social harmony, while   
   taxes are assessed to pay for services for the common good.   
      
   It’s not supposed to be left to unelected police board members and   
   individual officers to decide what kind of drug policy is acceptable.   
      
   That should be left up to citizens.   
      
   And, with a municipal election in November, what better time than now to   
   have that debate.   
      
   dbramham@vancouversun.com   
   --   
   *Read and obey the Bible www.jw.org*   
      
   --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05   
    * Origin: you cannot sedate... all the things you hate (1:229/2)