B.C. NDP leadership candidate Dana Larsen has pledged to work toward the decriminalization of sex work if he becomes premier.

The former B.C. Marijuana Party leader announced in a press release today (February 14) that he would allow sex workers to unionize and form co-operatives.

“As Premier, I would defund the police enforcement, prosecution and incarceration of offences related to the sex trade in an effort to increase safety for street sex workers,” Larsen said in the release.

“We know from the evidence that only a small minority of sex workers in Canada work on the street, the rest operate in what amounts to a legal environment as ‘escorts’. We have a set of laws here that only target the most impoverished, marginalized few percent of sex workers, preventing them from unionizing, hiring security, or otherwise trying to increase their safety.”

Larsen noted that an Ontario court ruled in the fall that Canada’s prostitution laws were unconstitutional.

You can follow Stephen Hui on Twitter at twitter.com/stephenhui.

By Stephen Hui, February 14, 201, originally published at: http://www.straight.com/article-374511/vancouver/ndp-leadership-hopeful-dana-larsen-backs-decriminalization-sex-work