NEW FEDERAL PARTY CAMPAIGNING FOR LEGALIZATION OF POT

At least one Canadian believes that politics haven't gone to pot and he's trying to do something about it. If every person who has ever smoked weed votes for the Marijuana Party in the next federal election, Marc-Boris St-Maurice believes he has a chance to become Canada's next prime minister. The founder and leader of the federal party says he's prepared to become the big boss in the House of Commons if that's what it takes to bring about the decriminalization of marijuana.

"I'm in this to win," says St-Maurice, who is travelling around Canada in a car covered with marijuana slogans in an effort to recruit candidates and supporters . "Of course, there are many different ways to define winning."

For the party victory would be the end of prohibition. "Now, if it takes becoming prime minister to do that..." he adds, ending the sentence with a grin.

St-Maurice has a good sense of humour, but he is serious about his work. He first started campaigning to legalize marijuana after being arrested 10 years ago and spend 24 hours in a jail cell.

"That was the day I decided I would do everything in my power to change the laws," he says.

He has been organizing demonstrations in his hometown of Montreal for the last 10 years, and formed a political party in Quebec called Bloc Pot - the party earned 10,000 votes in the 1998 provincial election, but won no seats, which is part of the reason he supports proportional representation.

The next logical step, according to St-Maurice, was to form a federal party - a plan made possible due to recent changes to the elections act. He started working on the party six months ago, and has pulled out of the band Grimskunk (where the "Boris" comes form) to pursue it.

He says he has gained the support of the top movers and shakers in Vancouver's marijuana movement, which has a lot of influence, as well as in repressed areas such as Northern Ontario where potsmokers feel persecuted.

He does not anticipate any problems attracting the minimum 50 candidates required to run in the election because the party is not a hard sell - public opinion polls show that the majority supports decriminalization. To date, the only thing stopping it has been the politicians - even those who claim to support decriminalization have failed to do anything about it.

"They 're full of shit," says St-Maurice, who was recently arrested for the sixth time while at a Compassion Club. "They realize public opinion is all for it and they want to capitalize on that...but it's like Pandora's Box."

He explains that drug laws are tied into policies of other countries as well as policing issues, and the government is torn between its own interests and the people's interests.

"We'll put the power back into the hands of the people, where it should be."

St-Maurice adds that people shouldn't be fooled by the government's so-called progress on the issue such as medical marijuana or the legalization of hemp.

"The medical marijuana is a scam - 99.9 per cent of the people who are using marijuana aren't using it for medical purposes, they're using it to get high."

He points out that just because red wine is good for the heart doesn't mean the government starts putting out medical red wine - and if the did it would probably taste like shit. He suggests that legalization would make all the fuss about medical marijuana a moot point.

Meanwhile, St-Maurice says the Marijuana Party can't lose - even if prohibition continues, more people will support the party and eventually it will win.

"Either they stop busting people and we win or the keep busting people and we gain," he explains.

(To contact the party for more information or to become a candidate, phone 514-528-1POT, or visit www.blocpot.qc.ca )