– This is not an official Stop the Violence BC Press Release; reprinted with the permission of MLA Joan McIntyre –

BC LIBERAL GOVERNMENT CAUCUS
STATEMENT

For immediate release
October 18, 2012

VICTORIA – Today, West Vancouver-Sea to Sky MLA Joan McIntyre released the following statement in support of Vancouver-Fraserview MLA Kash Heed’s call for the legalization and regulation of marijuana.

“I join my colleague MLA Kash Heed in support of the legalization of marijuana. Like MLA Heed, I believe that ending the prohibition of marijuana will make our communities safer by taking the industry out of the hands of organized crime. Kash Heed and other experts, such as Dr. Julio Montaner and Dr. Evan Wood of the organization, Stop the Violence BC, believe that marijuana prohibition increases gang violence in our province – violence which does not take place in a silo, but rather on the streets of our communities, putting B.C. families at risk.

“Prohibition has required a substantial investment in our police services, and places a heavy financial burden on the taxpayer. I believe, as my colleague Kash Heed does, that it draws police resources and capacity away from other, more pragmatic areas which would make our communities safer.

“In spite of the dedicated efforts of our police in B.C., a war on drugs only serves to drive organized crime further underground; it fails to end the cycle of violence and drug use, but succeeds in draining our coffers.

“I believe we need a paradigm shift from prohibition to one of regulation and taxation, making B.C. safer for us all.”

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Media contact: Mark Knudsen, BC Government Caucus Communications, (250) 356-1539