Sensible BC (British Columbia) begins campaign to decriminalise cannabis

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Sensible BC (British Columbia) begins campaign to decriminalise cannabis

18 September 2013

Canadian provinces have jurisdiction over policing and the administration of justice (drug laws are a federal matter only in Canada). BC has the responsibility of funding the police, and setting police priorities.

All police in BC are under the authority of the Police Act, an act of the BC Legislature. This includes both RCMP (federal police force under contract to provide services in some areas of BC) and municipal police. Sensible BC proposes an amendment to British Columbia’s Police Act, instructing police not to spend any time, money or resources on cases of simple possession of cannabis. This change, called the Sensible Policing Act, would effectively decriminalize the possession of cannabis in BC, while leaving the rest of the laws in place. Sensible BC will need to collect over 400,000 signatures from all across BC between September 9 and December 5, to force a

BC referendum to decriminalize marijuana possession in 2014. Campaigners are currently going door-to-door to collect signatures.

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