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Canada: Pot Party Turns On To BC Election
Jane Seyd The Coast Independent (CN BC)
Saturday 20 Jan 2001 Tune in. Toke up. Go vote. Amid a distinctive waft of ganja that made boring policy discussions more bearable, the B.C. Marijuana Party officially turned on to the West Coast's impending provincial election last week from its headquarters on the Sunshine Coast. Groovy. As political conventions go, the pot party scene was pretty mellow. Twenty-five candidates spent the weekend hanging out down in Bonniebrook in pot pundit Marc Emery's living room, talking about the general unfairness of Canada's drug laws, the pain in the butt of police harassment and the basic idea that the government should just get off everyone's case. There were a few of usual sort there - the Gulf Islands artisan into "medical plants," the young guy with dreadlocks and the stoner hangers- on. There were also people like Rob Gillespie, a self-described "business consultant," Libertarian and gun nut who says the reason he's involved is "it's none of my goddamn business what other people put in their bodies." Cool, Rob. Besides a call to public service, another thing several of the candidates have in common is they're up on charges of marijuana cultivation. Fortunately, criminal charges aren't such a big deal in the pot party. Brian Taylor, the 53-year-old leader of the party, was himself under indictment for illegally growing hemp - a strain of marijuana with a low percentage of the "active ingredient" THC - in his backyard, when he was elected mayor of Grand Forks in 1997. Which just goes to show. Or maybe it goes to show something about Grand Forks, a town Taylor describes as full of "Doukhobors, hippies and draft dodgers." Dressed for the convention last weekend in a big cowboy hat, jeans and cowboy boots, Taylor himself looks more Marijuana Marlboro Man than a doobie-smoking flake. At present, he's a cannibis capitalist, busy promoting a handy little device he's calling the Personal Growing Unit, or PGU for short. "Boy," he says, "I'm rubbing my hands together saying there's a huge opportunity out there." Taylor won't say if he personally inhales. "I don't think it's the kind of information that's relevant to our cause," he says. "The opposition would love to paint us as a bunch of Cheech and Chongs." Marc Emery - the local host of the convention, who these days funds his Cannibis Culture magazine through the lucrative business of "seed sales" - isn't nearly as shy in confessing personal habits. "I certainly have no problem telling people I smoke marijuana," says Emery, who estimates 80 per cent of his candidates are tokers. But stunts like smoking up for the TV cameras are definitely being discouraged. Emery himself has dressed in a dark suit and tie for the convention. It's all part of the election strategy - which along with the usual pot legalization measures, includes appealing to assorted right wing thinking with platforms ranging from "no new taxes" to promoting a voucher system for private-school education and coming down against gun control. "I don't think there's much future in a left-wing vote," says Emery. "People who are hard core socialists or want higher taxes on SUVs, we're not dealing with them." Forming a political party is a great attention-getting device, says Emery candidly. He should know. Back in November, he organized and bankrolled the federal Marijuana Party campaign from the Sunshine Coast to the tune of $70,000. He expects the B.C. election to cost him around $100,000. I locate the Sunshine Coast candidate, Dana Larsen - who distinguished himself in November by getting 1,649 votes in the federal election, more than any other pot party candidate in the province - cuddling on the couch with a fellow candidate. As a "hotbed of cannibis sympathizers," growers and home to people like pot poster girl Rene Boje - on the lam from marijuana charges in California - the Sunshine Coast is one of the ridings being targeted by the party for a half-decent showing. Larsen says he's ready - and appropriately fortified. "I smoke pot every day. Vast quantities of it," he volunteers. "It's the finest quality B.C. and the Sunshine Coast can produce." Larsen says he doesn't mind talking about his own drug use. "I can afford to be public," he says. "If everyone who smokes pot stood up and smoked pot in public, the drug war would be over." "Overgrow the government," he says, smiling. " That's our message."
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