DRUG TIES OUST NDP CANDIDATE

Facing increasing scrutiny over his extensive connections to marijuana
and other drugs, federal West Vancouver-Sunshine Coast-Sea to Sky
Country NDP candidate Dana Larsen has pulled out of the election this
week.

"I do not want anything to distract from the important work of your
New Democrats," stated Larsen in a news release Wednesday (Sept. 17).
Now NDP riding association president Bill Forst is primed to take
Larsen's place. "West Vancouver Sunshine Coast Sea to Sky NDP will
hold an emergency candidate nomination meeting on Saturday (Sept. 20)
in Sechelt, exact location TBA [to be announced]," stated Forst in an
email to the Coast Reporter newspaper Thursday (Sept. 18). "I will be
placing my name for nomination. [There are] no other candidates as of
this evening."

Larsen resigned shortly after The Globe and Mail asked him about his
involvement with the Vancouver Seed Bank, which sells potentially
cocaine-producing Peruvian coca seedlings. Larsen, who helped set up
and managed the Seed Bank but is no longer employed there, asserts
that coca plants are used in South America as a mild stimulant, and it
is virtually impossible to produce cocaine unless grown on a very
large scale.

Larsen co-founded the B.C. Marijuana Party in 2002, and once hosted an
episode of Pot TV on a website run by so-called "Drug Czar" Marc Emery
in which he smoked marijuana and drove a vehicle, and took LSD. Larsen
is also a founding editor of Cannabis Culture Magazine and the author
of the novel Hairy Pothead and the Marijuana Stone. Larsen told The
Chief on Monday (Sept. 15) that he didn't believe his high-profile
involvement in marijuana advocacy would undermine his campaign. "I
think people are finding it a refreshing change of pace that someone
is able to talk openly about that and it is an important issue," he
said. Liberal representative Ian Sutherland said he respected Larsen
for resigning, as opposed to actions that another candidate undertook
when facing controversy.

"I think it's interesting that he took responsibility for his actions
and offered to resign, and you contrast that with somebody else
running in this race." said Sutherland. "I think it speaks volumes for
Dana's character that he did that." Sutherland said he hoped that the
voters who traditionally supported the NDP would now look to him.

"It's one of those races that's going to be very important for how it
goes nationally," he said. "One of the ways to prevent a Tory
government is to make sure that a lot of Liberals get a chance to get
into Ottawa."

- - With files from Ian Jacques, Coast Reporter