B.C. MARIJUANA PARTY SHUT OUT OF SCHOOLS

B.C. Marijuana Party candidates won't be allowed to participate in
all-candidates meetings at Surrey schools.

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

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 a while, 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 - 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.

Surrey School District's Doug Strachan said the blanket decision not to
include Marijuana candidates in school debates came after a candidate at a
similar meeting at Fraser Heights Secondary last week distributed articles
and stickers promoting 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.

"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 B.C. process called Student Vote B.C. where teens learn
about elections, campaigns, and cast practice ballots the day prior to the
election.

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

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

"I'm not a drug addict or a dealer - I'm a parent," Boggan said.