HERB SCHOOL'S IN SESSION

No matter what your stance on marijuana prohibition, you have to hand
it to the pro-legalization crowd: they certainly make Canadian
politics more interesting.

This is a movement known for wild, party-like rallies and
larger-than-life personalities like the "Prince of Pot," Marc Emery.
It is an unusual movement still looking for a clear identity, a group
usually espousing don't-tread-on-me libertarian values yet is
politically linked to social democrats and environmentalists. It's an
often-contradictory movement, one that can often seem confrontational
and abrasive to the uninitiated and one that sometimes skirts the
line between activism and punch line.

But while Marc Emery revelled in the spotlight of being the Prince of
Pot and the Marijuana Party tried to work within the system to
achieve decriminalization, a different group of activists were
busying themselves in the Downtown Eastside, generating awareness,
giving tours and selling art. They had a grassroots approach to their
campaign for legalization and from 2004 until a police raid in 2008,
the School of Drug War History and Organic Cultivation fought against
laws they felt were unjust by educating the public.

The School of Drug War History and Organic Cultivation, known as "The
Herb School" to the activists who worked there, was located on the
100-block of East Hastings, right next door to where Insite sits
today. The School was started as a place to educate about the
politics of the Drug War, educate drug users about harm reduction and
safety and to fundraise for pro-legalization events. The School
became well-known for their hour-long Tours of Drug War History that
presented locations around Downtown Vancouver key to Vancouver's own
involvement with the Drug War; opium tunnels under Chinatown, the
Marijuana Party bookstore and the site of 1971's Gastown Riots. The
by-donations tours were well attended and showed guests from Canada
and around the world a side of Vancouver that most Vancouverites
might not even know about.

Owen Taylor, 22, was a regular fixture at the School during its
four-year existence. To this day, he is still proud of the education
and harm reduction work done there.

"It was really a great little community," Taylor told The Other
Press. "Everyone was really open with each other, and not one time
did we have a violent incident where we needed to call the police."

But the police came anyway. In the summer and fall of 2007, the
police who used to walk by with "a nod and a smile" changed their
attitude. Taylor described their behaviour as "intimidating" and
"aggressive." He recalled one incident where a police officer tried
to physically force herself into the Herb School building uninvited
and without a warrant.

"They didn't like what we were saying and they didn't like what we
stood for," Taylor said of the police. "We would teach about the
many, many, many uses of cannabis, not just medical but social,
economic uses... They basically just wanted to shut us up."

Perhaps the Herb School was something of an easy target for the
police. Unlike the upscale bong shops like Puff's and Cottonmouth
Smoke Shop that Taylor says "don't stand for shit," the Herb School
was visible. They had an agenda. They held rallies. They wore vests
that said "More Dead Cops." And on February 20th, 2008, it all came to a head.

The Vancouver Police Department executed a search warrant for the
premises, and arrested five men who were at the School at the time:
Owen Taylor, Adam Walker, Martin Milner, James Cunningham and David
Malmo-Levine. The police also found a small scale, several empty
baggies and $60 worth of marijuana. The five were held by the VPD
overnight and charged with a variety of offences, including trafficking.

One of the arrested, David Malmo-Levine, 37, is no stranger to the
heavy hand of the law. In 2003, Malmo-Levine went before the Supreme
Court of Canada after his "Harm Reduction Club," which distributed
marijuana at cost, was raided in 1996. When his case reached the
Supreme Court, he challenged the legality of Canada's narcotics laws,
arguing that the Constitution only permits the existence of criminal
laws that prevent harm, and laws that don't meet this "harm
principle" should be struck down. Ultimately, the Court disagreed.

But Malmo-Levine is about to have another chance to present his case
about the illegality of marijuana laws in court. He plead guilty to
all the charges against the Herb School defendants (except for a
charge of morphine distribution, one he said police "invented"), and
now has a plan to debate the Constitution with the Supreme Court.

For Taylor, however, this means he and the rest of his co-defendants
will avoid a potentially risky trial.

"David wanted us all to plead not guilty and fight it," Taylor said,
explaining that Malmo-Levine wanted his co-defendants to join him in
his challenge of narcotics laws. "[Prosecutors] had this deal; David
pleads guilty and the rest of us walk. And he said, 'If any single
one of you wants to take this deal, I'll take it...' And I said,
'Please, let's do that,' and I kind of feel shitty about it. It's
better for everyone in the long run, but it's not good for his cause."

"He's not a bad guy, he's trying to teach people and help them," Taylor added.

Malmo-Levine revealed his legal strategy in an interview, and to say
the least, it seems somewhat roundabout. He plans on citing genocide
laws, international treaties, the government's own reports on
marijuana legalization and questioning the definition of medical
marijuana to get the change he seeks. His sentencing hearing begins
May 20th, and he's got hope; he thinks attitudes towards marijuana
have changed in the six years since he was on trial.

"Understanding of how harmless [pot] is is becoming more
sophisticated, people are getting a better understanding of the facts
around the debate," Malmo-Levine said. "I think people are beginning
to get an idea of how much it could make in a legal market, which
would be bigger than an illegal market."

During our interview, Taylor and I visited the building which used to
house the Herb School. It's a small storefront, empty now, typical of
any old, run-down building in Chinatown. Taylor hasn't been back here
since the raid and visiting drummed up a lot of feelings; pride,
hatred, sadness, disappointment, melancholy.

His experience being arrested and facing a trial because of his
political beliefs has also made him feel differently about his
involvement with marijuana activism. He sees now why a lot of people
who may support legalization are often too scared to get involved.

"I'm going to try and be involved as much as I can, but it's hard,
right? There's so much coming down on us," he said, describing his
disillusionment. "With a system that's this organized, and this
precise and this hateful coming down against its own citizens, it's
really hard to do anything, let alone be an activist."

"Before the arrests, there was a lot of hope, because all we had to
go on was our hope," he said.

Malmo-Levine agreed that the force and threats of force against
marijuana activists is a unique and unfortunate facet of their movement.

"Being public about your support of the Gas Tax probably won't
endanger your children being taken away from you, or get you in
trouble with a parent or get you fired from a job but if you come out
in support of marijuana you run that risk," Malmo-Levine said. "This
is the biggest war in the world and probably the longest-running and
I don't expect them to hand us peace on a silver platter when we snap
our fingers. It's a Drug War, not a Drug Ballet, and in war there are
victims, and casualties, and struggle, and it's a fucking battle."

[sidebar]

Although the School of Drug War History and Organic Cultivation was
closed down in 2008, seminars about the Drug War are held at the
Marijuana Party bookstore at 307 West Hastings free of charge. David
Malmo-Levine has posted web video at http://www.pot.tv, and is
working on a new video about Barack Obama and his stance on decriminalization.