JAILBIRD RUNS FOR OFFICE

A prison inmate is after Liberal MLA Dave Hayer's job.

Don Briere, 54, is locked up in Abbotsford's Pacific Institution on a drug
trafficking charge. He's also the B.C. Marijuana Party's candidate in
Surrey-Tynehead.

"I believe this is a British Columbia first," said Marijuana Party leader
Marc Emery.

"I've been arrested 20 times on drug charges and put in jail 15 times, so I
think I hold the record for prison time served by a candidate, but Don is
doing well using my example."

Briere was charged with trafficking in marijuana last September when police
shut down Vancouver's Da Kine smoke shop for selling the drug. Briere
founded the Canadian Sanctuary Society, a non-profit organization that
advocates the legalization of marijuana and supplying pot for medical use.

Briere was charged with supplying Da Kine through the society and released
on bail. When he allegedly continued to supply the cafe, he was arrested.
"They're going to keep him in jail until his trial," sometime later this
year, Emery said.

Briere has been in prison before. In 2001, he began serving a four-year
sentence after pleading guilty to growing marijuana, money laundering and
weapons charges.

Emery agreed there's virtually no chance Briere will be elected on May 17.

Elsewhere, Emery is running in Fort Langley-Aldergrove against Solicitor
General Rich Coleman and said he fantasizes about knocking off B.C.'s top
cop. "He's our Darth Vader. Some people fantasize about Pamela Anderson,
some people about Shania Twain. For me, it's seeing Rich Coleman defeated."