CANDIDATES SIGN UP FOR POT PARTY SCHOOL

But Police Are Concerned That The Election Message Is Irresponsible

VANCOUVER (CP) -- The Marijuana Party will kick off its provincial election
efforts this weekend by running its cannabis candidates through campaign
school.

Already 55 candidates have signed up to carry the party banner in the
upcoming election, said Rob Gillespie, the party's financial agent.

"We're planning to have candidates in all 79 (ridings). We don't know if
the NDP will be able to do that," he said with a laugh.

The ruling New Democrats must hold an election by June 28. They are widely
expected to lose.

The Marijuana Party ran federal candidates for the first time in the
November election. The B.C. election will be the first time the party has
run in any province, but it won't be the last.

The Bloc Pot is officially registered in Quebec and marijuana parties are
being organized in Ontario and Alberta.

The party went on the attack in full-page ads printed in Vancouver
newspapers this week. Party officials don't expect to win any seats in
British Columbia -- at least not yet.

"On a first attempt its not something we really expect to do and it's not
something we would burden our candidates with," Gillespie said.

Their goal is to finish second in as many ridings as possible.

"It would be great if we beat the NDP in a few ridings," he said. "I would
say the possibilities are there."

The party's platform deals with everything from transportation to
education, but it's main goal is the legalization of marijuana and that is
a dangerous message, police say.

"They're being irresponsible," said Const. Colleen Yee, of the RCMP Drug
Awareness unit in B.C.

The party's message makes it more difficult to educate youth about the
dangers of drugs.

Marijuana is more toxic and carcinogenic than cigarettes, she said, but
while cigarettes are less and less accepted by society, pot advocates want
to legitimize smoking marijuana.

These advocates are increasingly organized and well-funded and their
message may be getting out.

"Public perception seems to be... more lax on marijuana than it is on
cigarettes," Yee said.

Party coffers may not be full, Gillespie indicated, but they have received
donations and have a couple of large backers, including millionaire pot
activist Marc Emery, founder of Cannabis Culture magazine and
Internet-based Pot-TV.

The newspaper ads, which would have cost approximately $30,000, attacked
the mainstream political parties in British Columbia.

"The Liberals will form B.C.'s next government through the virtue of being
the only mainstream party left in B.C. which has not screwed up, and that's
only because they have never been in power," the ad said.

Gillespie said some of the Marijuana Party candidates "don't even smoke
marijuana."

He said he doesn't smoke pot or cigarettes but is opposed to the "jihad"
against smokers.

Mavis Becker, who ran in the federal election and will be a party candidate
in the Vancouver suburb of Langley in the provincial election, believes the
money spent on the drug war could be better spent on education and health care.

The 58-year-old mother and grandmother said her family, including her
parents who are in their eighties, support her.

"Dad's the best little campaign buddy you could have," she said of her
father, who handed out Marijuana Party flyers alongside her in the federal
election.