LARSEN RESIGNS AS NDP 'NOT CAMPAIGNING ON COCA PLANTS'

The co-founder of the B.C. Marijuana Party resigned yesterday as the
federal NDP candidate for the West Vancouver-Sunshine Coast riding.

Dana Larsen, 37, resigned after questions about his involvement in the
Vancouver Seed Bank and Tokers Lounge on East Hastings Street.

He used to manage the retail outlet, which sells seeds of rare and
medicinal plants, including coca plants, the basis for cocaine.

He is no longer associated with the store and according to an employee
coca seeds are not stocked anymore.

"We're not campaigning on coca plants," said Gerry Scott, B.C.
campaign manager for the federal NDP. "It wasn't acceptable. It was a
distraction and that's the end of it."

The party will select another candidate "as soon as possible," Scott
said.

Larsen ran as a member of the Marijuana Party of Canada in 2000 and as
a member of the B.C. Marijuana Party in 2001. He also wrote a book
called Hairy Pothead and the Marijuana Stone and authored the Pot
Puzzle Fun Book.

NDP Leader Jack Layton, who was campaigning in Ontario yesterday, told
reporters he didn't know why Larsen's background wasn't more
thoroughly investigated before the NDP accepted him as a candidate.

He added that Larsen himself decided he wasn't a suitable choice and
that the NDP accepted that decision.