FREEDOM ROOT ISSUE FOR MARIJUANA PARTY

His ambiguous handshake is perhaps the first indication that Vern Falk is a
little less than ordinary.

"It's a Mayan handshake," he says, offering his left hand. Falk, 50, is the
owner of a small recycling business in Kamloops and is also the B.C.
Marijuana Party candidate for Kamloops-North Thompson.

Many of the B.C. Marijuana Party's planks touch on the drug issue, such as
legalizing marijuana, taxing dope sold commercially, stopping the financing
of the war against drugs, and an end to seizing the children of parents
charged with growing pot.

However, the party would also get rid of the gun registry, expand
restorative justice for victims of crime and allow more alternative and
preventative therapies in the health care system.

Falk's own platform is simple - less government and more individual freedom.

Amongst other liberties, Falk believes strongly in the freedom to educate
his own children and the opportunity to smoke just whatever herb he wants.

He says he's never been particularly interested in politics. In fact, Falk
considers himself somewhat of an anarchist - nothing in any mainstream
political party has ever appealed to him.

First and foremost, Falk says he's an environmentalist. But some months
ago, he discovered the Marijuana Party's Web site and was almost
immediately intrigued.

"It seemed like a lot of people like myself with deep convictions and
(anti) police convictions."

He abhors the fact that millions of tax dollars are spent dismembering
marijuana grow operations, prosecuting those who smoke up. Falk believes
marijuana is B.C.'s strongest economic engine - more so than forestry and
mining.

If the government would simply legalize B.C's famous bud, than Victoria's
budget woes would be over, he adds.

He recently joked at an election forum in Clearwater that B.C.'s beleagured
fast ferries should be turned into "grow boats."

"Two harvested crops would pay for the ferries and then they can be
recycled into aluminum cans."

Does Falk himself indulge in the evil weed?

"It's not an issue whether I do or don't smoke marijuana or where or when.
It doesn't matter. I don't ask you when was the last time you took a
drink," says Falk, relaxing in his downtown campaign office.

Falk will admit to a possession charge nearly 20 years ago in Vancouver but
says he was given a conditional discharge. He is also quick to point out
that he doesn't grow any marijuana.

Falk says he's always been somewhat of a free spirit. He spent much of his
20s travelling the world, doing a mishmash of jobs in Australia, Europe,
and Mexico. It was in South Africa in 1970 where Falk says he got a
firsthand look at real oppression.

"I was there right in the heart of apartheid. I left that country because I
was afraid," he said.

"I was in a situation where I didn't have a choice. I was white and that
was that. It had a huge influence on me in terms of civil rights."

Falk returned to North America and back to Mexico, where he preferred
surfing and relaxing on the beach to combat on the streets of Johannesburg.

Falk was later visiting friends in Saskatchewan and heading back to Mexico
when he passed through Kamloops in 1976. A friend told him to try skiing so
he strapped on the boards at then-Tod Mountain.

He's never left.

"Tod Mountain was more like a little club back then. It was a lot of fun. I
stopped surfing and started skiing."

He soon met wife Brenda in Kamloops. The two purchased a home from the
federal government for a $1 - the house was slated for demolition as it
was the future site of a highway - and transplanted the house to a plot in
Heffley Creek.

The couple have since raised their three children - ages eight, 12 and 20 -
in the area and recently became grandparents.

For years, Falk operated a variety of ski-related businesses in and around
Kamloops. He has since branched into recycling and today operates a
business called The Green Gang, recycling old timber into homes and furniture.