ACTIVIST TO BRING DOPE TO HIS MP

PORT ALBERNI -- A well-known Vancouver Island pot activist will be
huffing and puffing outside his local MP's office at high noon Monday.

"I would bring a big pot plant, but it's too cold out," said Michael Mann.

Mann will be at Nanaimo-Alberni MP James Lunney's Port Alberni digs
to protest Bill C-26, which aims to enact mandatory minimum jail
sentences for certain drug offences.

But according to Mann, Bill C-26 -- currently being debated in the
House of Commons -- could be interpreted to classify sharing a joint
as being akin to trafficking or having connections with organized crime.

"They want to jail people for using cannabis is what this boils down
to," he said, adding the bill has sparked a nationwide grassroots
campaign by marijuana activists and supporters of the legalization of
pot to inform the public.

At noon on Dec. 17, Canadians are expected to gather at their local
MP's offices to ask them to vote against the bill.

According to marijuana activists, mandatory minimums have failed to
curb drug use and sales in the United States and will only fill jails
with non-violent marijuana offenders.

"We'll have to build more jails if this bill passes," he said. "It's
such a waste."

Mann has had a legal licence to grow marijuana for his personal
medicinal use for seven years. However, he said that since the
Conservatives took over in Ottawa, disturbing signs have arisen that
the "moral right" is unhappy with current laws that allow a small
number of residents to grow and use cannabis legally.

He's concerned there may be a steady push to terminate the program
that allows some 1,400 Canadians to use and legally produce marijuana
for medicinal purposes.

Telephone messages left for Lunney were not returned.