B.C. should legalize, regulate and tax marijuana, becoming Canada’s version of Washington state, says former B.C. solicitor general Kash Heed.
Suzanne Anton, the current attorney general and minister of justice, says it’s an issue for the federal government, but Heed and others want B.C. to lead the way on pot policy.
“B.C. could do it in a responsible way, if there was the political will provincially,” said Heed, who also served as the commanding officer of the Vancouver Police Department’s drug squad. “It’s time for them to take a position on this at the provincial level, absolutely.
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Dr. Julio Montaner, director of the B.C. Centre for Excellence in HIV/AIDS, said with the collaboration of various levels of government, British Columbians “have a long track record of challenging the status quo … in ways that have been previously felt to be unthinkable. The case in point is Insite,” Vancouver’s supervised drug injection site.
Montaner pointed out that when Insite opened in 2003, it was illegal to operate such a facility. But, they were able to open under a Section 56 exemption of the Controlled Drugs and Substances Act.