FAMILY TRAGEDY TAKES LEADER OFF CAMPAIGN TRAIL

* Marijuana Party Leader Brian Taylor's father passed away this week
in Kelowna

KELOWNA - The leader of B.C.'s Marijuana Party visited Kelowna Friday,
but not to illuminate the virtues of pot or condemn the war on drugs.

Brian Taylor's father died of heart failure in Kelowna on
Monday.

The former mayor of Grand Forks had to put aside campaigning for a
couple of days to attend the funeral at Immaculate Conception Church.

"It's a pretty tough kickoff to the campaign," Taylor said before the
service. "He was a great guy. I'm working to get myself together to
do the eulogy without crying."

Taylor, whose daughter Teresa is running in Okanagan-Westside, hopes
his party can capitalize on disenchantment with the NDP to make a
credible showing in several ridings.

The Marijuana Party has unveiled a host of platforms that will rankle
law-and-order types and delght supporters of a new world order. They
vow to relieve pain, help heroin addicts and improve the province's
economy.

Taylor, 55, believes legalizing marijuana could generate $1 billion
overnight in extra tax revenue. By charging income and corporate
taxes to legal growers, the cash crop would pour money into provincial
coffers.

"The Liberals could use this as an economic-recovery strategy - to
recognize legal growing of marijuana in a similar way to the wine
industry," he said. "Bells should be ringing for entrepreneurs. It's
going to be a really big industry."

Taylor predicts Health Canada will announce new regulations for the
medicinal use of marijuana this summer that would allow one in seven
Canadians - 4.7 million - to smoke the weed legally. The new rules
would help addicts kick their hard-drug habits because smoking
marijuana helps them recover from withdrawal, he said.

Other party platforms:

* License brothels to reduce the number of child prostitutes on the
streets. "Discreetly integrate that kind of service in the community,"
he said. "If brothels are licenced, there would be medical
examinations and greater scrutiny. You don't see children being
offered in Amsterdam."

* Allow parents to choose which school their children attend so they
can avoid the RCMP's anti-drug DARE program, taught in dozen's of B.C.
schools.

"It's bad science that tells kids marijuana is as bad as hard drugs.
It puts it in the same category as cocaine, heroin and speed," said
Taylor.

* Stop prosecuting people for marijuana possession when they've
applied to Health Canada to use it for medicinal purposes.

* Reduce the cutting rights of forest companies so communities control
what blocks are cut in their areas.

* Increase diversity in health care by including acupuncture, yoga,
marijuana, and ethnic medicine.

"If it works for you and it's a cost-efficient alternative to
traditional medicine, let's do it," he said. "I use (marijuana) as an
aphrodisiac."