SOWING THE SEEDS OF LEGALIZATION

"Pierre Trudeau smoked my pot, so why, 30 years later, do I have to hide to
smoke it?" That question was on Michel Allard's mind yesterday, as he stood
at the back of the sweet-smelling Marijuana Party headquarters, watching
leader Marc-Boris St-Maurice announce it'll run 100 candidates across
Canada, including 40 in Quebec.

When Allard, the party's man in Laval-les-Iles, was a 20-something pot
vendor in the 1970s, customers included two children of a Trudeau employee.

At least once, Trudeau also partook, said Allard, whose business card
reads, "Purveyor of cannabis for the Excellent Pierre Trudeau."

The then-PM "told them, 'Tell your pusher this is good stuff.' "

Party leader St-Maurice doesn't claim to have sold to politicians. He
doesn't even care if straightlaced Paul Martin ever puffed and wouldn't say
how often he inhales.

And no, he is not promising a dime-bag in every pot (though he'll sell you
12 marijuana seeds for $10 to raise campaign funds). All St-Maurice wants
is for pot to be legalized, no ifs, ands or buts.

And he has an eight-page platform - slogan: Let's Roll! - to back him up,
with positions on sovereignty (from the U.S.), health care (better pot for
the sick), education (stop Just Say No campaigns) and economic development
(the munchies would boost pizza joints and junk-food makers).

In conservative jacket and tie, St-Maurice, whose party got 66,258 votes in
the 2000 election, alternates between tongue-in-cheek and earnest.

"You think the sponsorship scandal is bad? Think about the billions wasted
on judges, lawyers and police" to stop pot use, said St-Maurice, who is
running against Martin in LaSalle-Emard riding.

The seeds? "They're not a stable genetic variety," so the plants will be
"decorative" and not "suitable for smoking."

St-Maurice wouldn't disclose his pot practices. "It's inappropriate to ask
people about personal use." As for as the sweet smell permeating the
office, "we're in Plateau Mont-Royal. I don't think there's a streetcorner
where you won't smell pot."

For his part, Allard, 52, gave up dealing and is now a computer programmer,
but he isn't shy about his habit.

"Every day for 35 years," is his answer to the how-often question. "Instead
of your morning coffee?" The E-File asks. "No, no, no, I never smoke in the
morning," he says, surprised by the question.

"It would spoil my day, my friend - I would be too relaxed."