MARIJUANA PARTY SHUT OUT OF SURREY SCHOOL DEBATES

B.C. Marijuana Party candidates will no longer be allowed to
participate in all-candidates meetings at Surrey schools.

Amanda Boggan, who's representing the Marijuana party in Surrey-Green
Timbers, was initially invited to attend a political debate for
students at Queen Elizabeth Secondary on Wednesday morning.

However, she was contacted by a student organizer the night before and
asked not to show up.

"I was a bit stunned. I've never been disinvited to anything in my
life," Boggan said. "I got off the phone and felt like a bad person
for awhile, and then realized it was actually detrimental to the
students' education about the electoral process for certain parties to
be excluded."

Armed with an election sign, she and Surrey-Whalley Marijuana
candidate Neil Magnuson appeared at the high school at different times
prior to the debate - which was attended by the NDP's Sue Hammell,
Communist Harjit Daudaria, the Green's Roy Whyte, and Annexationist
Gordon Brosseuk - only to be told to leave school property by the
principal and security personnel.

Surrey School District spokesperson Doug Strachan said the blanket
decision not to include Marijuana party candidates in local school
debates came after a candidate at a similar political meeting at
Fraser Heights Secondary earlier this week distributed articles,
magazines and stickers promoting the use of pot.

He said the pro-pot candidates were initially permitted in schools to
make the election process as realistic as possible for students and to
show that fringe and one-issue parties exist.

"But at the same time we just could not allow that sort of information
concerning a substance that is still illegal to be promoted to our
students," Strachan said.

"We're trying to strike a balance. We can appreciate lobbying to have
laws changed, and that's a legitimate point of view and certainly
something our students can learn from. But we can't condone the
promotion of them taking an illegal substance."

Many schools are holding all-candidates meetings and mock elections as
part of an Elections BC process called Student Vote BC wherein teens
learn about elections, campaigns, and cast practice ballots the day
before the provincial election.

Kirk Tousaw, Marijuana party campaign manager, called the exclusion of
candidates an anti-democratic exercise and "one that teaches a very
negative lesson to our youth, who are increasingly disenfranchised
from our political system."

Boggan said she wasn't surprised at the school district's stance in
light of a letter written to the solicitor general of Canada by
trustees in May 2004 expressing concerns about the potential
consequences the decriminalization of marijuana could have on students.

"I'm not a drug addict or a dealer - I'm a parent," Boggan said. "I
want a system that protects kids from being exploited by dealers and
traffickers."