BRITISH COLOMBIA MARIJUANA PARTY EYES MAINSTREAM

British Columbia's Marijuana Party is riding a pro-pot,
anti-government platform -- and Ronald Reagan's former campaign bus
- -- in a bid to cross over into the political mainstream.

Hippies, college students, libertarians and right-wing entrepreneurs
have united under the banner of the fledgling group, which has as
many candidates running for the provincial legislature as the more
established political parties.

"We seem to be the only commonsense party out there," said Marijuana
Party leader Brian Taylor, 55, the former mayor of Grand Forks, a
conservative logging town on British Columbia's border with
Washington state.

British Columbia voters go to the polls on May 16 and the governing,
left-leaning New Democratic Party admits it likely will lose badly in
a race that also includes the conservative Liberal Party, the
environmentalist Green Party and the right-wing Unity Party.

Taylor said the Marijuana Party's pledge to get government out of
peoples' lives has attracted conservatives and libertarians angry at
everything from the education establishment to bicycle helmet laws.

"Government is interfering in our lives everywhere. ... What are we
doing telling some little old men riding bicycles that they have to
wear funny-looking hats?" Taylor said.

Party Fits British Columbia's Reputation

Having a Marijuana Party is only fitting for British Columbia, a
province that already has a reputation for some of Canada's most
colorful politics and one of North America's largest illegal
pot-growing industries.

"BC Bud" is prized for its potency in the United States, where it can
sell for up to $6,000 a pound (.45 kg). Police estimate the illegal
marijuana industry could be worth C$2 billion ($1.3 billion) a year
to British Columbia's economy.

Vancouver, Canada's third largest city, has been dubbed "Vansterdam"
in some publications for its relatively open attitude toward drug use
similar to that in the Netherlands.

Vancouver Police have a special squad to raid pot growing operations,
but the facilities are so common the squad often does not bring any
criminal charges. Officers just seize the drugs and the equipment and
move on to the next target.

Taylor, who ran against a former premier as a New Democratic Party
candidate in 1983, said the Marijuana Party's members include many
people who do not use pot but are attracted to the free enterprise,
free choice platform.

That includes support for legalized marijuana, which some believe
could match the province's booming wine industry.

"That section of the community, the free enterprisers, see marijuana
as an economic opportunity," said the Marijuana Party president, Marc
Emery. But Emery, a former libertarian candidate and successful
cannabis entrepreneur, said his party is not banking on support from
British Columbia's left wing.

"The left-wing vote is going to split between the NDP and the
Greens," said Emery, who published Cannabis Culture magazine and runs
a mail-order marijuana seed business.

"Our theme is choices, options, tolerance. We're promoting heavily in
rural areas our opposition to Ottawa's gun registration scheme,"
added Emery, who is bankrolling much of the party's C$250,000
campaign budget.

The party supports school vouchers and more choice in health care,
including allowing patients to seek treatment in private clinics
outside the publicly funded health system.

'The Cannabus'

Like the established parties, the Marijuana Party has a campaign bus
- -- dubbed the "Cannabus" -- to stump for votes, and at least one of
its former political users would probably cringe if he knew who had
it now.

The vehicle was used by Ronald Reagan in the 1980 U.S. presidential
campaign. It has also been used by Minnesota governor Jesse Ventura
and former British Columbia premier Bill Vander Zalm, one of three
B.C. leaders to be forced from office by scandal in the past decade.

The provincial election campaign has so far been a rout for the B.C.
Liberal party, which recent polls show has the support of about 70
per cent of decided voters.

Support for the scandal-plagued New Democratic Party government and
premier Ujjal Dosanjh has evaporated, creating the potential for the
Liberals to capture all 79 seats up for grabs in the British Columbia
Legislature.

"Our object in every riding (electoral district) is to come in
second. I assure you we'll pull 5 percent of the vote," Emery said,
adding the one-sided election will allow people to vote for the
Marijuana Party. "Why waste your vote and give it to the Liberals who
don't need it?"

Even with little chance of electing a candidate, Emery said, the
party will be a force after the election. He said it would act as an
unofficial opposition outside the legislature.

The Marijuana Party's federal arm ran candidates in last fall's
election, drawing about 66,000 votes. But it has not been all smooth
sailing for the party. It was excluded from a recent televised debate
of the political parties' leaders.

Taylor said local candidates have been left out of forums, but he is
unfazed by the snubs. "We're important enough to attack," he said.