GAME MARIJUANA PARTY CANDIDATE GETS GOODS ON GOVERNMENT

Don't be surprised during the coming B.C. election campaign if one of the
command performances doesn't come from the B.C. Marijuana Party.

Now, before you think I've been smoking something, consider this -- there
are scores of ordinary British Columbians who are sick of government
intervention in every aspect of their lives.

They're people like Paul Geddes, an economics instructor at Vancouver's
Columbia College, who suggests most of his pals would label him "a
straight-laced, conservative, boring book-reader."

Married for more than 20 years, Geddes is the son of a Presbyterian
minister, with two kids in a private Christian elementary school.

His idea of a celebration consists of the odd beer. And, no, he doesn't
smoke pot.

Geddes is, in fact, president of the B.C. Libertarian Party.

He says he's running for the Marijuana Party because the Libertarian Party
has been de-registered by the elections gnomes for past failure to file
proper election paperwork.

Geddes is also running for the Marijuana Party because he believes the war
against drugs costs more lives than it saves -- and epitomizes the evils of
the police state. "The war against drugs is really a war against personal
choice and responsibility," he states.

Geddes, 46, even has a sense of humour, a key asset when you're running as
a fringe party candidate. He also has a healthy disrespect for such preachy
pop icons as eco-propagandist David Suzuki.

The freedom to use drugs, Geddes notes, does not mean you have to use them:
"There are many legal activities in Canada that I would strongly urge you
to stay away from -- the music of Madonna, David Suzuki sermons or eating
cabbage. All are harmful to thinking minds, but I would never advocate
making any such distasteful activities illegal."

Besides, Geddes says, anyone who's lived in B.C. for the last decade knows
that voting NDP is much more dangerous to the health than marijuana could
ever be.

So, are we to lock up all the irresponsible NDP supporters? "No," says
Geddes. "As with other risky behaviour, we must keep appealing to people's
better senses and hope that they will eventually learn from their past
mistakes."

Geddes, in fact, sounds more like a Wyoming Republican than a B.C. pot
advocate: "In this election. I want to strike a blow for individual
freedom, self-responsibility and for the virtues of private property and
entrepreneurship."

Ending drug prohibition is a free-market issue, he insists. And he asks why
British Columbians would want to support one of the mainstream parties
which "differ with each other only in how they want to control your life."

Good for Geddes. He may be a bit naive about drugs, but he certainly has
the right idea about the need to control the control freaks and rein in the
tax-gougers.

And his message should strike a chord with those of us who are tired of
such other excesses of the nanny state as the federal government's firearms
registration system.

It's a seriously misguided system which, as SFU professor and gun advocate
Gary Mauser shows in his latest study, is costing taxpayers hundreds of
millions of dollars and draining away valuable police resources.
"Registration is pulling away police officers who would be better used
protecting our streets," says Mauser, who adds there is no solid evidence
that clamping down on gun owners reduces crime.

"We should be registering sex offenders, not duck hunters," he quips.

A third example of government excess is photo radar and the police's
preoccupation with speed enforcement.

Indeed, it's interesting that a new study by Britain's free-market Adam
Smith Research Institute has found prosecuting drivers for speeding is one
of the lowest priorities for most people.

Of course, you can see why the cops are addicted to harsh motoring,
marijuana and gun-ownership laws. It's far easier to nail docile
duck-hunters, drivers and pot-users than it is to catch hard-core criminals.

However, as the Marijuana Party hopes to demonstrate in this long-overdue
election, there's a limit to the amount of liberty the long-suffering
public is willing to forego to achieve the Canadian dream of peace, order
and good government.

And that's no reefer madness.