'STOP BUSTING GROWERS, PUT RESOURCES TO BETTER USE'

Meet the candidates: Marijuana Party

The last federal election campaign featured a candidate who advocated
"yogic flying," but as far as Dan Loehndorf is concerned, that's not aiming
to get high enough.

AKA Reverend Damuzi of the Church of the Universe, Loehndorf is contesting
the Kootenay-Boundary-Okanagan election on behalf of the Marijuana Party.
Pot Party members want their favourite plant legalized and hope to run
candidates in about 50 ridings nationally.

Despite his messianic good looks and ability to raise the $1,000 needed to
register as a candidate, the 33-year old Nelson resident isn't talking the
usual candidate's talk about running to win. In fact, there is very little
that's usual about this candidate.

"This will mostly be a message-oriented campaign," said the soften-spoken,
dreamy-eyed writer for Cannabis Culture Magazine. "But you never know -
sometimes the spirit provides in interesting ways."

His message is simple - the state should leave pot smokers and growers
alone, deregulate the hemp industry, and deal with more serious issues.

"We believe that the combined amount we spend on (marijuana) law
enforcement, courts, and the additional amount lost in potential tax
revenue (from pot), amounts to about $20 billion annually. We would like
to spend these funds on something more useful, like health care, education
or improving the Canada Pension and unemployment insureance systems.

"If you have a heart attack, you could easily die before the ambulance gets
to you or if you need an operation you could die before an operating room
is available. But if you put a pot plant in your window, someone will be
by to arrest you in no time. This is a problem that calls for the
reallocation of our resources."

Loehndorf supports "harm-reduction" strategies such as ingesting the plant
rather than inhaling it and not operating machinery while under the
influence. But he insists the notion that marijuana is a dangerous drug
and must be prohibited is absurd.

"There has never been a fatality due to marijuana. There is no evidence
that there are any negative health consequences. All of the addiction
studies place coffee and cigarettes above marijuana in terms of
addictiveness. So why aren't the police going after coffee drinkers?"

Marijuana is already a big part of the economy, especially in the West
Kootenay, so why not legalize and tax it, reasons Loehndorf.

Hemp - a form of marijuana without the drug content - also has economic
potential as a pulp source, among other uses, he said. But because of
fears that hemp fields will be used to hide marijuana crops, this legal
plant is so heavily regulated that its cultivation has been stifled.

As he is in the process of legally changing his name to Reverend Damuzi,
Loehndorf does not yet know which of his names will appear on the ballot.
His Church of the Universe believes that marijuana is "the tree of life".

"It's OK to get stoned for the fun of it. But I personally use marijuana
sacramentally, which means I use it for contact with the divine."

More information is available from his home page at "damuzi.virtualave.net"
(there is no "www" in front).