NORTH ISLAND MARIJUANA CANDIDATE STEPS FORWARD

A Holberg housewife and grandmother has volunteered to take the Marijuana
Party's nomination for the North Island in the upcoming provincial election.

Noreen Evers, 45, said it was a chance encounter with a Nanaimo-area
candidate that encouraged her to give politics a go. At first Evers
dismissed him as "another pot-head," but after a brief conversation,
discovered she had a lot in common with the party's platform.

"It turns out I agree with a lot of the issues," Evers said.

She agrees with the Marijuana Party's cornerstone premises to legalize -
licence and tax - marijuana and oppose gun registration legislation.

However, Evers added that she was intrigued by some of the party's other
positions.

She likes its provision to make ballot initiatives - a way of letting
citizens initiate legislation by petitioning for public votes - easier.

"I've always been leery of politicians," Evers said. "I don't believe they
should be making promises they can't keep, and politicians should be liable
for breach of promise."

Another Marijuana Party position is to institute restorative justice in the
legal system. Evers said the concept was pioneered while she lived in the
Comox Valley and she likes it.

The promise to include health care providers, and alternative care
providers, in creating a preventative theory for health care is something
the North Island needs.

She also believes the North Island is ready for the Marijuana proposal for
a provincial drug policy that advocates harm reduction: decriminalization
of marijuana, allowing prescriptions for heroin and cocaine and creating
safe injection sites for drug users.

"It's fairly libertarian, but what we have in place now, and have had for
years and years isn't working," Evers said. "(Problems are) getting worse
and worse."