'REEFERENDUM' WILL TARGET WAR ON DRUGS

Hugo St-Onge is convinced he has the winning conditions for his
looming "reeferendum."

His Bloc Pot party, set to run 50 to 65 candidates in the March 26
election, is organizing the online plebiscite on the legalization of
marijuana in Quebec.

It'll be a fair process, the Bloc leader insisted at a news
conference at an Ontario St. bar yesterday. A non-party-member will
oversee voting. Only those on the official voters' list can cast
ballots (unless, of course, they're 16 or 17 years old, in which case
anybody can vote).

"We want to send the absurd (pot) prohibition up in smoke," said
St-Onge, who stands out from other leaders thanks to his penchant for
hemp shirts, his beard and long hair that reaches his mid-back.

An accountant, St-Onge, 32, is taking his third stab at politics, in
Gouin riding. In 2003, the Bloc ran 56 candidates, garnering 22,904 votes.

The party, running on an end-the-war (on drugs) promise, says pot
laws waste police and court resources, endanger health and make drugs
too accessible to children. It says it will unveil "a business plan"
showing legalization would revive Quebec's regions, protect the
environment, create a biofuel industry and cut health costs.

The reeferendum runs March 11 to 26, at www.blocpot.qc.ca.