A new coalition of B.C. health care professionals, academics and police are mounting a push to legalize the sale of marijuana, arguing the prohibition against pot is driving gang violence in the province.

Stop the Violence BC coalition members come from a wide range of high-profile groups and institutions, including the University of British Columbia, Simon Fraser University, Centre for Addictions Research BC, Providence Health Care, Vancouver Coastal Health and Law Enforcement Against Prohibition.

A retired BC Supreme Court Justice and a retired RCMP Chief Superintendent have also lent their names to the cause.

There are more than 430,000 marijuana users in B.C., the coalition claims, and the massive profits the drug generates fuel a violent ongoing turf war that claims dozens of lives every year.

RCMP statistics show the per cent of B.C. homicides attributable to gangs has risen from 21 in 1997 to 34 in 2009. Dr. Evan Wood of the BC Centre for Excellence in HIV/AIDS says it's time to rethink the way authorities handle pot in the province.

"We know that making marijuana illegal has not achieved its stated objectives of limiting marijuana supply or rates of use," Wood said in a statement.

It's time to focus on "how to decrease violence, remove the illicit industry's profit motive and improve public health and safety," he added.

The group will be releasing a series of reports aimed at putting pressure on politicians to legally regulate marijuana sales, and polls suggest they have plenty of support from British Columbians.

An Angus Reid survey commissioned by Stop the Violence found 69 per cent of respondents in favour of taxing and regulating pot over arresting producers and sellers. Only 39 per cent support minimum prison sentences for marijuana-related crime, including possession of six or more plants, and a full 87 per cent attribute gang violence in the province to marijuana prohibition.

Only 12 per cent said they were in favour or maintaining current marijuana laws.

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