B.C. NDP Leader Adrian Dix reaffirmed his support for marijuana decriminalization Sunday, but said the decision isn’t likely to be made until the next federal election.

Speaking to CTV’s Question Period, Dix said the issue is not part of his party’s current platform because it’s ultimately under Ottawa’s domain.

“I favour the decriminalization of marijuana, but that’s a federal issue and will be settled in the 2015 election,” Dix said.

“I expect and hope that the national government will move [but] it doesn’t appear that’s going to happen in the next couple years.”

The statements were made just over a week after an Angus Reid Public Opinion poll found 73 per cent of British Columbians in favour of a research trial to evaluate the taxation and regulation of pot.

B.C. Premier Christy Clark has yet to come out in support of decriminalization. Her party was last pegged at 14 points behind the NDP, with just a few weeks to go before the provincial election.  

Dix said the recent legalization of recreational marijuana use in Washington state makes it “even more difficult” to continue fighting the expensive, ongoing war on drugs in B.C., which many experts have blamed for the province’s volatile gang problems.

He added that the federal government’s introduction of mandatory minimum jail terms for the sale of small amounts of marijuana means B.C. taxpayers are going to be paying even more.

“[Ottawa’s] going to increase costs in our criminal justice system here in British Columbia because the penalties, of course, are under two years and will be in provincial jurisdiction,” Dix said.

Meanwhile, a coalition of police officers, doctors, lawyers politicians and academics – known at Stop the Violence BC – are advocating for the provincial government to receive an exemption to the Criminal Code to allow adults to purchase pot legally.

The coalition says a regulated marijuana market could stifle the flow of funds going to organized crime, curb gang violence and reduce the spread of illegal grow-ops in B.C.

The research trial could allow researchers to study the effects legalization would have on users, organized crime and potential tax revenue, the group says.