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Sensible BC looking for signatures

Sensible BC is collecting signatures between September 9 and December 5 in efforts to pass the Sensible Policing Act.
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Jill Moore is a registered canvasser who is collecting signatures for the Sensible BC campaign in the Fernie and Sparwood area.

Sensible BC is collecting signatures between September 9 and December 5 in efforts to pass the Sensible Policing Act. A registered canvasser must collect signatures and only registered voters can sign the petition. It’s one more reason to become a registered voter.

This law would redirect all B.C. police from detaining or arresting adults for marijuana possession. Minors with marijuana would be treated as if it were alcohol.

This new law would also call upon the federal government to repeal marijuana prohibition, so B.C. could legally regulate cultivation and sale.

According to Elections BC, “if Dana Larsen (the proponent) is successful in collecting signatures from 10 per cent of the registered voters in each electoral district and submits the petition signatures by December 9, and the signatures pass Elections BC’s verification process, the Chief Electoral Officer must forward the draft Bill onto to a Select Standing Committee on Legislative Initiatives,” said Don Main, Elections BC communications manager.

That amounts to approximately 3,200 signatures in the East Kootenay.

“The Committee has two options: send the draft Bill to the Legislature for debate; or, send the draft Bill back to the Chief Electoral Officer to conduct an initiative vote.”

Initiative votes are scheduled for the last Saturday in September, every three years. The next one is scheduled for Sept. 27, 2014.

For the initiative vote to be successful more than 50 per cent of the total number of registered voters must vote in favour of the draft Bill, and more than 50 per cent of the registered voters in two-thirds of the electoral districts must vote in favour of the draft Bill. At that point the government must introduce the draft Bill in the Legislature.

For more information, visit Sensible BC Kootenay East on Facebook or call 604-343-4684.