Vancouver council unanimously calls for legal cannabis

The biggest thing to say about Cannabis Prohibition is that is a fraud. Besides that it is a failure at prohibiting and prohibiting is not even a good thing. So on November 3 the City of Vancouver moved to end cannabis prohibition and start regulating distribution.

It is important to note that in 2002 the Select Senate Committee on Illegal drugs released their report on cannabis after serious and lengthy interviews with all kinds of experts including the then governer of New Mexico that was for legalization and the adoption of harm reduction strategies- http://www.norml.org/index.cfm?Group_ID=5285 That report made by Senators that are appointed for life called for legalization of cannabis for everyone over 16 and the removal of all criminal records relating to cannabis implying that prohibition was wrong from the beginning which in Canada was 1923. That report was kept out of the media almost completely.

The article appears at Cannabis Culture which is published in Vancouver- http://cannabisculture.com/articles/4573.html


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).”

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How come Canada gets to be so cool, huh?

Damn these herbophobic puritans in the U.S.!

n/t