LOTS OF OPINIONS ON MARIJUANA

Marijuana drew a full house on Wednesday, as about 200 Langley
residents crammed Newlands convention hall to discuss the issue.

Conservative MP Mark Warawa organized the session, with a focus on
federal government plans to decriminalize the drug, and also on the
effects of grow-ops within Langley.

The forum was divided into two parts, allowing both panelists and
guests to voice their opinions. The first half of the evening was
devoted to discussing a very controversial topic; the act to
decriminalize the drug (Bill C-17). There is a common misconception
that to decriminalize pot is to legalize it. The act states that,
instead of serving a jail sentence, users would be liable for fines if
caught with anything up to 30 grams of marijuana in their posession. A
ticket starts at $150 for adult offenders, with a discounted rate for
youth.

The second half of the forum dealt with strategizing how to eliminate
grow-ops within the community. Warawa organized the event to educate
citizens, as well as to receive feedback from the community on how to
deal with these hot topics.

"As a member of the justice committee, I have made these topics a
priority and believe that this forum will help the residents of
Langley further understand these issues," said Warawa. "I am
interested in learning from this forum in order to better advocate for
Langley when these issues are debated in the House of Commons."

Warawa received plenty of feedback from panelists, as well as from a
wide variety of speakers of all ages and backgrounds.

"We have an absolutely horrific problem on our hands here and there
are no signs that it is getting any better," said University College
of the Fraser Valley criminologist Darryl Plecas, who has conducted
extensive studies of the marijuana industry in B.C.

Plecas was amongst several panelists who provided insight to the
audience about the marijuana problem in Langley. An expert in his
field, he has closely studied the negative effects of marijuana and
its relation to social problems within the community. He shared his
disregard for Bill C-17 during the forum, denouncing it as an
"absolutely stupid bill."

"There is a mounting volume of research that tells us marijuana use is
bad for you, so why do anything to facilitate its use?" asked Plecas.
Langley Family Services spokeswoman, addiction councillor Christine
Palmer, spoke on the issue from a health perspective. She spoke of the
negative health effects of the drug.

"Marijuana has great potential for harm, depending on the person and
how they use it," said Palmer. "The drug changes people's perceptions,
which often leads to safety issues such as people taking on risky
behaviours like engaging in unprotected sex."

The amount of tension in the room became evident when supporters of
the act voiced their opinions to the panel and audience.

"I am appalled that the issue here is marijuana, because I believe the
energy should go to harder drugs," said Langley resident Pam Howie.
"When it comes to the justice system, I really do not think that our
jails are large enough to accomodate all the criminals that would be
finding themselves in prison if we were to have harsher laws."

Howie also expressed her dissapointment that Marijuana Party leader
Marc Emery was uninvited from sitting on the pannel. Emery was on hand
however, and expressed his disappointment to The Times.

"The audience had an unfair disadvantage as they didn't get an
accurate side of the discussion - instead they got a lot of
propaganda,"said Emery, who is running against Rich Coleman in Fort
Langley-Aldergrove in the upcoming provincial election.