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BC Petition For Referendum On Marijuana Decriminalization Update


DonLever

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I hope everyone who signs the petition (I'm in favour of legalization too, BTW) realizes that, at the end of the day, it means absolutely nothing. BC cannot decriminalize marijuana. Only the federal government can do that by amending the Criminal Code. The only thing the petition will do is let the federal government know that a certain number of people want to see weed legalized, which I think is pretty well known already. But don't fool yourselves into thinking that the BC government can actually do anything about the law, because they can't.

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No, I have never once smoked weed, never been offered or been around it and that's just fine with me. I have seen stories on what pot does I don't need anyone to tell me otherwise. It is illegal for a reason, because it is not safe to use.

I am against any form of dicriminalization.

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I didn't say there aren't legal (or other) differences. But the same "It's federal law" and "it won't matter" naysayers were out in force there as well.

Even if it doesn't actually federally, legally, fully decriminalize the substance, it's a powerful statement and important baby step towards the ultimate goal. Officially binding, valid or not. It's symbolic of the will of the people.

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The big difference between Canadian and American criminal law is that, in the USA, both the states AND the feds make criminal laws. That is, in addition to federal criminal laws enforced by federal law enforcement officials, states also pass their own criminal laws. So, what's happened in Washington is that it's legal in that state, but federal officials can still make arrests under the federal code.

We don't have that in Canada. There's only one set of criminal laws here and they're federal. Provinces are not allowed to pass their own criminal laws or amendments.

We also have something called "paramountcy", which, in a nutshell, means that if an otherwise valid provincial law and an otherwise valid federal law are in conflict with each other, the federal law will prevail. So even if this proposed legislation actually becomes BC law (which is highly unlikely), since it conflicts with the federal criminal laws - by preventing the judicial system from enforcing the drug laws - a court would likely declare it to be invalid under the paramountcy doctrine.

Not saying that it's right, and that I agree (like I said, I think marijuana should be legalized), but it will take a lot more than 90,000 signatures to change anything here.

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The big difference between Canadian and American criminal law is that, in the USA, both the states AND the feds make criminal laws. That is, in addition to federal criminal laws enforced by federal law enforcement officials, states also pass their own criminal laws. So, what's happened in Washington is that it's legal in that state, but federal officials can still make arrests under the federal code.

We don't have that in Canada. There's only one set of criminal laws here and they're federal. Provinces are not allowed to pass their own criminal laws or amendments.

We also have something called "paramountcy", which, in a nutshell, means that if an otherwise valid provincial law and an otherwise valid federal law are in conflict with each other, the federal law will prevail. So even if this proposed legislation actually becomes BC law (which is highly unlikely), since it conflicts with the federal criminal laws - by preventing the judicial system from enforcing the drug laws - a court would likely declare it to be invalid under the paramountcy doctrine.

Not saying that it's right, and that I agree (like I said, I think marijuana should be legalized), but it will take a lot more than 90,000 signatures to change anything here.

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I think the point is to lobby BC to get the federal government to create an exception or other wise amend the law to exclude BC from that law. They could argue it would help deal with preventing lacing and meddling with pot that get people onto other drugs and allow them to enjoy the real weed.

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I would support it if that were the point, but according to the original article, they're trying to pass something called the "Sensible Policing Act", which just wouldn't fly (for reasons I've stated above). If they just want to persuade the feds to change the law they should be more straightforward about it.

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