Council unanimously passes motion to support regulatory approach to cannabis control

By Sheila Gardner, CFAX News, March 22, 2012

Victoria City council has unanimously passed a motion that shows the city supports a regulatory approach to the control of marijuana. 

Councillor Ben Isitt introduced the motion to the Governance and Priorities Committee last week, and says it is a motion showing other jurisdictions that Victoria supports such a stance on the harm of cannabis prohibition.

“This is a statement to the federal government that the war on drugs has failed, that it’s not working in Victoria, or anywhere else in the country, and this position is consistent with the position taken by four former attorneys general of BC, similar to a position taken by Mechosin.  So, because the city and the taxpayers bear a lot of the costs of the war on drugs, whether in terms of policing cost, or in terms of petty crime in our neighbourhoods, I think that’s why it’s important for the city to take this position and that’s why council unanimously supported the motion when it was considered at the Governance and Priorities Committee.”

Isitt believes that many BC municipalities are increasingly affected by the harms of cannabis prohibition.