THE MOBILIZATION OF THE MARIJUANA MOVEMENT

Forming Saskatchewan's First Marijuana Party

Remember those commercials describing pot heads as useless: "my
brother never went on to do harder drugs, now that I think about it;
my brother never really did anything at all." A group of pot activists
are out to prove that stereotype dead wrong. The marijuana movement is
mobilizing and it's about to become official. Nathan Holowaty and
other marijuana activists are preparing to form Saskatchewan's first
official marijuana party.

It all began this past summer with the incarceration of Canada's well
known pot activist Marc Emery. The debate about Saskatchewan's
marijuana laws took centre stage when Emery, founder of the BC
Marijuana party and Cannabis Culture Magazine, was sentenced to 92
days in jail for passing a joint at a pro pot rally that was held at
the U of S.

"Marc's arrest wasn't necessarily the start of the whole thing," says
Holowaty, who is spearheading the party and plans to become its
leader, "but there was definitely a swell of support that was shown
across the city. Through the vigils and rallies, I met a lot of
dedicated people and I was impressed that there was this many people
who were willing to throw this much energy behind the issue and that
maybe we could actually do something for real=85 Marc's arrest was
definitely the catalyst for bringing this whole movement together."

The ideology of the party is quite simple: "We want to make
Saskatchewan a place free from marijuana oppression" explains Mike
Kerieff, leader of the soon to be marijuana campus club,
"Saskatchewan's approach (to drug laws), unlike much of Canada is very
negative=85there is a lot more focus on punitive measures as in the
judicial system rather than rehabilitation."

Kerieff is extremely critical of the ways in which Saskatchewan's
government has dealt with marijuana laws. "In places like the United
States where they do use a more punitive approach the less effective
crime fighting has become. The more you stop crime by simply punishing
the criminals and putting them in jail the more crime you inevitably
breed which may be why Saskatoon has the highest crime rate in the
country."

If elected, the Saskatchewan Marijuana Party isn't simply going to
legalize marijuana, it promises to eliminate all the criminal elements
involved with the drug by implementing government controls over
distribution of the drug and thus creating a safe environment where
drugs are treated as a health concern rather than a criminal offence.

The party organizers have begun to question whether or not harsh drug
laws are a factor in why so many young people leave
Saskatchewan.

"There are many factors that come into play as to why Saskatchewan has
stayed around roughly one million people since nineteen thirty while
the rest of the nation has grown exponentially in that time, one of
the obvious reasons being lack of good quality infrastructure, and the
lack of good quality infrastructure is due to the fact that we have
such a small tax base because we have these punitive laws that drive
young people out.

"Furthermore, marijuana and hemp are an extremely reliable renewable
resource and Saskatchewan being the agricultural province that it is
could capitalize on this industry."

The Marijuana Party's politics may seem similar to that of the Green
Party or even the federal NDP, but Kerieff and Holowaty aren't afraid
of stepping on any other party's toes. "I agree with the politics of
lots of other parties like Green, but I see no harm in starting a
party with similar politics. I think pot can be a culminating issue
among young people."

The party still needs a couple thousand signatures in order to be
ratified and become an official political party, but party organizers
optimistically project that they will be on the ballot in the next
provincial election. They do feel that there is enough support to
actually get the party going and with the help of local head shops
like BOB HQ they plan to make an impact in the next election.

"The most important thing at the moment is getting all the
signatures," says Sean O'Reilly of BOB HQ. "This has been our little
pet project ever since Marc got arrested and we are throwing whatever
support we can behind it."

Both BOB HQ and The Vinyl Exchange have petitions that anyone who
wants to support the party can sign. There are also several petitions
circulating around campus and Holowaty encourages people not to be
frightened off by the legal issues: "It's a shame that in a so called
free country like Canada we can't even get some of our most dedicated
supporters to sign our petition for registration of a political party,
due to the fear of potential legal repercussions."

"Marijuana will save the world, if we let it," Kerieff adds.