BC Marijuana Part to protest Stephen Harper in Vancouver on Feb 26

Stephen Harper will be at 300 west Hastings at 1pm Feb 26! Meet us at 12pm at 307 west Hastings (BCMP Building) to get ready!

Prime Minister Stephen Harper is flying to Vancouver Thursday to announce a bill he calls a crackdown on gangs. In reality, Harper's extension of the prohibition of drugs is going to enrich organized criminals and endanger Canadian safety. The Prime Minister's office has refused to release details of the announcement, including its time and place, but information suggests Harper will reintroduce mandatory minimum sentences for drug crimes. Despite the late announcement of the visit by the Prime Minister, the BC Marijuana Party is organizing local activists to protest Harper's visit.

The data on prohibition in general and mandatory minimums specifically is pretty clear. Scientific study from the federal Justice department and the US Rand Corporation conclusively show that these mandatory minimums do not decrease crime, they in fact increase it. These sentencing laws fill our jails with non-violent offenders that would not normally be sent to jail, decimating families. Mandatory minimum laws are a failure, and one that sees its most obvious expression in the United States, which imprisons 1 out of 99 adults, the highest incarceration rate in the world, right along with the highest drug use and associated violence.

Stephen Harper is ignoring the will of the 62% of Canadians that want marijuana prohibition repealed. Support for the end of marijuana prohibition has stayed above 50% for the last 15 years. Compare this to the Conservative Party which has failed to consistently poll above 40%. The reason that Canadians support an end to prohibition is summarized by the Canadian Senate report of 2002. The Senate concluded that the prohibition of marijuana is more dangerous to Canadian society than the substance itself. This is because the prohibition of marijuana is responsible for giving up to $40 Billion a year to organized criminals and costs Canadian taxpayers $2.3 Billion every year. It does this while failing to impact the use or supply of marijuana.

That is why Stephen Harper is refusing to announce the location of his press conference until the last minute. Stephen Harper knows that he will face protests from the population of Vancouver, a population fed up with bearing the costs of drug prohibition. Vancouver residents have borne the violent costs of drug prohibition and they want a change. Stephen Harper is going to Vancouver to announce more of the same. He wants to score cheap political points from the fear of a community plagued by violence.