MARIJUANA MAN GETS SET TO ROLL

A 48-year old construction worker and former NDP supporter is mulling over
an offer to run as the B.C. Marijuana Party's candidate in Skeena.

Bob Erb has been actively recruiting new members for the party - best known
for its stance in favour of legalizing marijuana - since he joined in
February.

Erb said he's signed up at least 75 party memberships in Skeena so far, and
expects that support to grow to 200 by the end of April. Voters could very
well find themselves in the middle of an election campaign by then.

He said the majority of new party members here are people in their 40s or
50s, and he knows of a couple in their 70s who have signed on.

Erb, who headed down to the party's launch in Vancouver over the weekend,
said party executives have asked him to consider becoming the candidate
here in the upcoming provincial election.

The fledgling party, led by former Grand Forks mayor Brian Taylor, intends
to field candidates in all 79 B.C. ridings.

Erb, a long-time federal and provincial NDP member, said he joined the
national marijuana party in January after reading about it in Cannabis
Culture magazine.

He wanted to be involved after learning of its pledge to run candidates in
the provincial election.

After a lifetime of political involvement in the mainstream, Erb cites
frustration that the NDP hasn't worked harder to legalize marijuana.

"I have voted NDP all my life," said Erb, a union member and single father
of two teenagers, who describes himself as a "regular user" of marijuana.

Erb was charged with possession in 1997 after RCMP raided his Thornhill
home, but the charges were stayed.

He later filed a complaint against the RCMP over the raid.

He thinks legalizing marijuana for personal use and encouraging hemp
farming would "generate real, new sources of revenue for the government
while cutting the numbers on our employment and welfare rolls."

He also believes it would draw more tourists to B.C.