Surrey Forward Mayoral candidate Jinny Sims will end the ban on cannabis shops in Surrey if elected Mayor.

"The current ban is based on outdated evidence," said Sims. "It was assumed that prohibited sales would reduce use, protect our youth and ensure community safety. None of that has occurred."

There are three reasons to allow Cannabis sales in Surrey:

1. To curtail the impact of gangs and illegal sellers of cannabis. Legal sales reduce illegal demand.

2. Ensure the safe supply of cannabis products in Surrey.

3. Stop dealers from moving recreational cannabis users on to more dangerous drugs.

"Allowing legal cannabis sales reduces the impact of illegal distribution, most often gang related," continued Sims.

Brock University Business Professor Michael Armstrong has published a paper on the impact of legal sales in municipalities and his conclusion is that legal sales pull sales away from gangs and illegal sources:

"An indirect implication of the results is that legal sales – so far – mostly represent market share taken away from illegal sellers, rather than new users entering the market. This implication is clearly interesting and presumably reassuring for Canadian policymakers." – Michael Armstrong.

"When you put distribution of legal products in the hands of illegal sellers, you create a market that only profits gangs and gangsters," said Sims. "We need a market that puts Surrey’s community safety at the forefront."

Surrey needs a safe supply of cannabis products. This can only be managed by ripping the supply out of the hands of criminals and putting it into the hands of government-controlled producers.

"Safe supply makes a world of difference, but we also need to ensure that our children are not subject to dealers lacing cannabis with more dangerous drugs. This is only done to progress consumers from a legal product to those that are illegal and more profitable for gangs."

Safer product, less illegal selling and protecting all cannabis users in Surrey all dictate that legal sales is the only avenue for Surrey.