MARIJUANA PARTY WANTS LOCALS TO CATCH THE BUZZ

Marc-Boris St. Maurice's vision of the country is one where marijuana is
tolerated. St. Maurice, the 31-year-old leader of the Montreal-based
Marijuana Party, wants to give every Canadian the opportunity to vote for
the legalization of marijuana.

To that end, St. Maurice has taken a leave of absence from his Montreal
band, Grimskunk, and he's looking for candidates to carry his banner in the
next federal election.

That includes Newfoundland, which, until Monday, he thought was part of the
Maritimes. St. Maurice's political ambitions have grown out of several court
appearances over the past decade for marijuana possession. "I was personally
saddened and disgusted when I was turned into a criminal for simple
possession," said St. Maurice in a telephone interview from Montreal. It was
in a law office nearly a decade ago that the seeds were first planted for
the Marijuana Party's provincial predessor, Bloc Pot. St. Maurice wanted to
know how to get the permits for pro-marijuana demonstrations.

"He said if you want to change the law, get elected and change the law," St.
Maurice said.

"I never really forgotten that day or that comment." St. Maurice is due in
court next month on a charge of trafficking at the Montreal Compassion Club,
an organization that provides marijuana to people who have illnesses.

So far, the party has 44 candidates interested in running in the federal
election, only six short of the number needed to be a registered party. The
fact that the $1,000-deposit necessary to be a candidate in a federal
election is now 100 per cent refundable will help round out the slate, St.
Maurice said.

"We consider that the edge we need so that we can actually pull it off," he
said. "If we were looking at losing all that money, I don't think you'd find
as much enthusiam to run."

The party's platform is simply to tolerate and somehow administrate all uses
of cannabis, especially for medicinal purposes. But St. Maurice's
philosophy, and that of his party, is that the inaccessibility of medicinal
marijuana is only a small part of a larger issue, which is total
prohibition.

"If recreational use was tolerated and legalized, then people who wanted to
use it for medical reasons could more than easily get it," he said. He
compares it to red wine, which has been found to have certain health
benefits when used in moderation.

"We haven't found Health Canada suddenly coming out with some medicinal red
wine, which would probably be way more expensive and not taste that good,"
he said. But it is the medicinal aspect that urgently needs to be addressed
for the people who are currently sick and dying, St. Maurice said. "Their
health is important and has to be addressed right now," he said. The
Marijuana Party doesn't need to have weight with Ottawa if the fringe party
carries weight with the voters, St. Maurice said. "Our party wants to carry
weight with the population and that's how democracy is supposed to be," he
said.

Ottawa will have to take note of any party - or issue - that is undermining
their support, St. Maurice said.

The party ran candidates in the two recent byelections that sent Tory Leader
Joe Clark and Canadian Alliance Leader Stockwell Day to the House of
Commons, receiving 2.6 per cent and 1.6 per cent of the vote respectively.
"This is probably the first time everyone in Canada has a direct access to
get involved, to make some sort of concrete measure to help end the
prohibition of Canada," St. Maurice said of the option now before Canadian
voters. "It doesn't cost any money and no one is looking over your shoulder,
so it's definitely the best time to support this."

St. Maurice ran against Day. He's thinking of recruiting the P.E.I. pie
thrower, who got a direct hit on Prime Minister Jean Chretien during the
summer, to run in the next federal election.