The Stop The Violence BC campaign is responding to the highly emotional dismissal to their key message from Nelson's mayor.

 

John Dooley says there's no evidence regulating and taxing marijuana in BC would indeed stop violence because of the large drug trade with the United States. Earlier this week he discredited the campaign saying they're the same people who've always wanted marijuana legalised.

 

Campaign founder Dr Evan Wood ,a professor of medicine at UBC says municipalities need to come onboard and join a credible conversation that is opening up in the United States and even the right-leaning Fraser Institute.

 

As for Dooley's stance? Wood says "I don't want to be too criticial of mayor Dooley because I think he's got quite emotional about this because he does want to protect young people. But  there's certainly a conflict of  interest when people turn to police who are the key beneficiaries of the war on drugs in terms of  taxpayers investment  (with) millions of dollars annually in these law enforcement policies." As the mayor Dooley is the chair of the Nelson Police Board

 

Wood says many credible experts agree that taxing and strictly regulating marijuana would tackle organised crime and better protect younger people who currently have free access to it.