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Cannabis Campaigners' Guide News Database result:
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CN BC: Marijuana Vote Lights Up
ccguide Thursday 16 Nov 2000 Pubdate: Mon, 13 Nov 2000 Source: North Shore News (CN BC) Copyright: 2000 by the North Shore News Contact: Website: http://www.nsnews.com/ Author: Michael Becker Cited: Marijuana Party http://marijuanaparty.org Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/mjparty.htm (Canadian Marijuana Party) MARIJUANA VOTE LIGHTS UP Decriminalization Of Pot On Agenda Of Candidates In Two North Shore Ridings THE grass just got greener on the North Shore. Home to a fair share of pot puffers -- as well as illegal marijuana cultivation operations -- North and West Vancouver now have two federal election candidates representing the Marijuana Party of Canada. The Marijuana Party agenda is basic: end marijuana prohibition in Canada. The candidate for West Vancouver-Sunshine Coast is Dana Larsen. In North Vancouver the candidate is Tunya Audain. North Shore political junkies will likely be familiar with Audain's name. She is a founding member of the B.C. Civil Liberties Association. In 1985, the West Vancouver resident was voted volunteer of the year by the junior league. She founded the Gifted Children's Association of B.C. Audain is a pioneer in the school reform movement. She is the coordinator for Education Advisory, a West Vancouver-based group which promotes community participation in education. She has run as a candidate for the Libertarian Party in past federal and provincial elections. This time out the Libertarian option was not available to her on the federal stage. The party failed to come up with the 50 candidates needed nationally to rate as a viable federal party. Libertarians, according to Audain, believe people should have "minimum interference and meddling in their peaceful, voluntary, non-coercive lives. We find the government meddling in people's lifestyle choices and how they govern themselves." She says Libertarians support the decriminalization of marijuana. "A lot of crime fighting resources are being diverted. They could be used for other things in this country. It was a natural for me to seek the nomination for the Marijuana Party as a single issue." Audain does not smoke marijuana, but she said, "I know the experience of pot because I smoked it when I was an art student in New York and that was 40 years ago. It's not a part of my life, except that my people, the Russian Doukhobors that came into Canada as immigrants in 1900, brought hemp seeds with them. Hemp was a clothing item and farmers planted hemp as a wind break between farms." She believes that by decriminalizing the substance, it will not be "pushed" on young people. "I'm a grandmother, I've got two grandchildren. If it was decriminalized, it would become more of a normal experience like tobacco or coffee or alcohol." She gathered 100 signatures in the community to become a candidate. The reaction has varied. "Maybe a quarter of the people that I approached for a signature, were quite emotional about it and opposed marijuana being decriminalized." Others were glad to sign her papers. "I heard a lot of stories. There was a mother whose son is about 20 and has to have marijuana as a medical need. He was withering away. The pot was helping him restore his life and appetite. Others know of people who have AIDS and cancer and the pot ameliorates their suffering. Other people use it for recreational use and a lot of young people were pretty gung ho." - --- MAP posted-by: Richard Lake
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