TOKE ME TO YOUR LEADER

Fresh from its success on the national stage, the Marijuana Party is
gearing up for the provincial election.

Jane Seyd Dropped In On Its First Convention

Tune in. Toke up. Go vote. Amid a distinctive waft of ganja that made
boring policy discussions much more bearable, the B.C. Marijuana Party
officially turned on to the West Coast's impending provincial election
last week.

As political conventions go, the pot-party scene was pretty mellow.
Twenty-five candidates spent the weekend hanging out on the Sunshine
Coast in pot pundit Marc Emery's living room, talking about the
general unfairness of Canada's drug laws, the pain in the butt of
police harassment and the basic idea that the government should just
get off everyone's case.

There were a few of the usual sort there -- the Gulf Islands artisan
into "medical plants," the young guy with dreadlocks and the stoner
hangers-on. There were also people like Rob Gillespie, a
self-described "business consultant," Libertarian and gun nut who says
the reason he's involved is "it's none of my goddamn business what
other people put in their bodies."

Besides a call to public service, another thing that several of the
candidates have in common is they're up on charges of marijuana
cultivation. Brian Taylor, the 53-year-old leader of the party, was
himself under indictment for illegally growing low-THC hemp in his
backyard when in 1997 he was elected mayor of Grand Forks -- "the
biggest pot producing area of the province," he says. Dressed in a big
cowboy hat, jeans and cowboy boots, Taylor himself looks more like
Marlboro Man than a doobie-smoking flake.

Since losing his mayor's chair in a subsequent election, he's more of
a cannabis capitalist anyway, busy promoting a handy little device
he's calling the Personal Growing Unit, or PGU. Sales to California,
Washington and Oregon could be huge, he says. What Taylor won't say is
whether he inhales. "You can call it hypocritical if you want, he
allows, adding "the opposition would love to paint us as a bunch of
Cheech and Chongs."

Marc Emery, whose claim to fame is founding Vancouver's Hemp B.C.
store and who these days funds his Cannibis Culture magazine through
the lucrative business of seed sales, isn't nearly as shy. "I
certainly have no problem telling people I smoke marijuana," says
Emery, who estimates 80 per cent of his candidates are tokers.

But stunts like smoking up for the TV cameras are definitely being
discouraged. "I expect people to look serious," he says.

Emery himself has dressed in a dark suit and tie for the convention.
It's all part of the election strategy -- which along with the usual
pot-legalization measures, includes appealing primarily to right
wingers with platforms ranging from no new taxes to promoting a
voucher system for private-school education and coming down against
gun control. "I don't think there's much future in a left-wing vote,"
says Emery. "People who are hard-core socialists or want higher taxes
on SUVs, we're not dealing with them. We need less government and more
freedom."

Forming a political party is a great attention-getting device, says
Emery. Back in November, he organized and bankrolled the federal
Marijuana Party campaign to the tune of $70,000. He expects the B.C.
election to cost him around $100,000.

"It costs us very little," he says. "We get a lot of coverage."

By mid-afternoon, a couple of party members are feeling the effects. A
non-candidate named Mark, who is here to support his brother, says, "I
find the whole thing pretty amazing. I like the fact that we have
Indians running."

Wayne, one of the Indians and an advocate of "medicinal" pot "to
relax," says he thinks the pot party is worth a look, because all the
other politicians are knobs.

Later on, Sunshine Coast candidate Dana Larsen -- who distinguished
himself in the federal election by getting 1,649 votes, more than any
other pot party candidate in the province -- is found cuddling on the
couch with a fellow candidate. As a hotbed of cannabis sympathizers
and pot growers and home to people like Emery and pot poster girl Rene
Boje, on the lam from marijuana charges in California, the Sunshine
Coast, he says, is one of the ridings being targeted by the party for
a half-decent showing.

Larsen says he's ready -- and appropriately fortified. "I smoke pot
every day. Vast quantities of it," he volunteers. "It's the finest
quality B.C. and the Sunshine Coast can produce." As editor of
Cannabis Culture magazine and host of the TV show Weedy Wednesday,
"lots of excellent pot comes my way."

Larsen says he doesn't mind talking about his own drug use. "I can
afford to be public. If everyone who smokes pot stood up and smoked
pot in public, the drug war would be over. Overgrow the government,"
he says. "That's our message."