DOPE POLITICIAN JAILED

Nunavut's candidate for the Marijuana Party in the last federal
election has been sentenced to six months in jail for drug-related offences.

Ed deVries was sentenced in Igloolik on Sept. 25 to six months in
jail and one month of probation for trafficking and laundering the
proceeds of crime.

Those charges date back to December 2003, when police intercepted a
filing cabinet sent through the mail, filled with more than 2,000
grams of pot, and addressed to a company owned by deVries.

During an interview this summer, deVries told Nunatsiaq News that he
was confident he would be acquitted by a jury of his peers in
Igloolik, because, he said, many Igloolik residents smoke marijuana.

Those comments caused much anger in the community, leading some to
call for his banishment. DeVries pleaded guilty shortly afterwards.

During the last federal election, deVries received more votes than
the Green Party candidate, about seven per cent of ballots cast.