WHERE THERE'S SMOKE

Take a closer look at those election results and you'll see that the
Marijuana Party seems to be rolling its own little success story in Canadian
politics.

No, we're not smoking something =96 the results speak for themselves. The
Marijuana Party ran in 73 ridings and polled more than 66,000 votes, or
about 2 per cent of the votes cast in those constituencies. In some
riddings, its candidates outpolled established parties. In Laurier
Ste.-Marie, for example, which was won by Bloc Quebecois leader Gilles
Duceppe, Marijuana Party candidate Marc-Boris St.-Maurice got more votes
than candidates for the NDP, the Progressive Conservatives or the Canadian
Alliance

Where there's smoke, there must be fire. It's probably true that some of
this support was a protest vote against establishment politics, but it's
more likely that the Marijuan Party is starting to catch fire with its
message that pot should be legalized.

Legalization would be a step to far, but decriminalizing the simple
possession of marijuana would be worth a good look by the federal
government. So, too, would a policy to make marijuana available for
medecinal puposes.

What's really remarkable is that all those marijuana smokers were able to
make it all the way to the polling booths on Monday without stopping off for
munchies.