Canada: Joint Effort Thrills Marijuana Party

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Montreal Gazette (Canada)

Thursday 30 Nov 2000

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Website: http://www.montrealgazette.com
Author: Arpon Basu

JOINT EFFORT THRILLS MARIJUANA PARTY

If the Marijuana Party had its way, anyone who wanted to smoke a joint
in Canada would be able to in a safe, legal environment.

Party leader Marc-Boris Saint-Maurice saw the results of Monday's
federal election-the party's first-as a great leap forward toward that
end.

" We were launching on the scene at (the federal) level. " he said. " I
dare say we got one of the stronger first showings among the small
parties. That really shows how much support we have out there for what
we're promoting. "

The Party received more than 65,000 votes nationwide - 35,000 of them in
Quebec. Saint-Maurice received more than 2,000 votes in Laurier Sainte-
Marie riding, the fiefdom of Bloc Quebecois leader Gilles Duceppe.

"I knew i was good for 1,000 votes, maybe more," Saint-Maurice said at a
Mile End coffee shop yesterday afternoon. " But over 2,000 votes went
well beyond my expectations. "

But the real shock for Saint-Maurice was the party's ability to field 22
candidates in Ontario, a Liberal stronghold he has largely ignored until
now.

" That was pretty much undiscovered territory, " Saint-Maurice said.
"It's something to build on for next time. "

The results in Ontario and British Columbia were comparable to the
results the party saw agrer its first provincial election es to field a
candidate in every riding in Canada this time, the party fielded 73
candidates, with each attracting an average of 908 votes.

"(The election) has shown that marijuana-users are bright motivated,
hard-working individuals, and - contrary to popular misconceptions -
apathetic, too-stoned-to-tie-their-shoes kind of people, " he said.
"What we've really won in this election is leverage and recognition as a
legitimate constituency. "

Saint-Maurice said the door is open to starting a municipal Marijuana
Party in Montreal. He sees this city as the continent's most tolerant
toward marijuana-users.

"The presence of marijuana in Montreal culture is quite well ingrained,"
Saint-Maurice said. " We could take an Amsterdam-style approach, where
there would be no police intervention and certain conditions for simple
possession and trafficking small amounts. There's lots of ways to go.

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