MARIJUANA CANDIDATE BRINGING CANNABIS CAFE DEBATE CLOSER TO HOME

RCMP Says Research And Education Needed Before Legalization Is
Considered

The debate surrounding the Da Kine cafe might be raging in Vancouver,
but former Marijuana Party candidate in Pemberton's riding is ensuring
the ramifications of any decision will be felt well outside the city
limits.

Norm Siefken has been a candidate for the Marijuana Party in the
Chilliwack-Fraser Canyon riding, which includes Pemberton and D'Arcy,
during the past two federal elections. He also owns a cannabis-seed
business in Vancouver.

For the past week he has also been protesting in Vancouver outside the
Da Kine cafe and campaigning for marijuana to be legalized.

When Pique Newsmagazine contacted Siefken this week he was standing
outside the Da Kine shop holding a "legalize marijuana" sign, smoking
his pipe and watching the police circulate around the shop every 15
minutes.

Siefken said the outcome of this protest could lead to the
legalization of marijuana in Vancouver, because those involved know
what they are doing and they are here for the long haul.

"I'd say within six months you'll be seeing marijuana stores all over
Vancouver," said Siefken.

"Because Da Kine is being defiant and opening right away the next
day.

"It's the same thing that happened in the (marijuana) seed
business.

"First they were busting all the seed stores and then they would just
re-open and then finally they just left the seed stores alone.

"I'd say within six months you'll probably have about 50 cannabis
cafes in Vancouver.

"There's a lot of others opening up right now; I know of three or
four."

The owner of Da Kine, Carol Gwilt, and seven employees spent a night
in jail last week and were then released by Judge William Kitchen.

But Siefken said everybody had been warned that if there were another
spate of arrests then the offending people would be spending more time
in jail.

"Just on Da Kine I think it's a really valuable public service that
these people are providing because the other choice is to go to a
dealer who's trying to sell you some crack and meth (amphetamine) and
heroine or whatever.

"It's important to have cannabis in an environment where it's cannabis
only."

Siefken said the situation at the Da Kine store is being supported by
a number of groups, including a group of experienced Marijuana Party
candidates.

"The whole idea is to force this case into the courts," he
said.

"They (the people who were arrested) knew this before they got
arrested and that's why everybody is ready to be re-arrested or
whatever, but definitely the idea is to bring it into the courts and
get some fair judgements.

"There's been various groups of people here all day, and we've had
public transport buses honking their horns and waving and supporting
legalization."

Siefken was certain that this was the start of a movement that would
result in the legalization of marijuana.

"I can say that the people that are running Da Kine and the people
wanting to open other Da Kine locations are all people with ties to
the Marijuana Party."

One issue that has hurt the Marijuana Party's cause in the past, and
indeed the cause of most pro-drug political parties around the world,
is that the people advocating for legalization can often be
discredited.

Donald Briere, for instance, heads the group that supplies marijuana
to the Da Kine shop and the Vancouver Sun revealed he has spent time
in jail for weapons offences.

And when the police initially raided Da Kine they found $63,000 in
cash and a pound of hashish.

But Siefken said this debate was only about the legalization of
marijuana.

"I've been helping out down at Da Kine and I know the people, we hate
crack and meth and all these man-made chemicals, we are very
definitely 100 per cent cannabis.

"You can't stop it at this point the cat's out of the
bag.

"They'll be opening faster before they can even think about shutting
them down I'm planning to open a location myself.

"But especially here in Vancouver, marijuana's very popular and I
think in a lot of circles it's considered safer and more popular than
alcohol."

Whistler's Staff Sergeant Norm McPhail said if anybody wanted to open
a cannabis cafe in Whistler or Pemberton then the first step would be
to apply for a business licence.

"I would think the application would first be for a business licence
and that would go through the Resort Municipality of Whistler and one
of the consulting parties would probably be the RCMP," said McPhail.
"And we would take the position that we can't allow illegal activity
to occur."

He said it was up to the politicians and the courts to do the research
and change the laws and until such time the RCMP had to enforce the
law.

"The only thing from a policing perspective is if you look at the
history of alcohol and Whistler Village, alcohol and over-consumption
is one of the biggest factors that we have to deal with as police, and
the violence that results.

"And marijuana is claimed to create a passive individual, but how
passive? I'd like to see the research," he said.

"Because we all know that alcohol in some states and some persons,
depending on their make up, can create a passive person and in other
states it creates a total reverse reaction."

He added that if the push to open cannabis cafes did spread to
Whistler or Pemberton then the public must first be educated in the
same way they are educated about smoking and alcohol.

"Where my concerns come in is the trouble we have with alcohol
presently in society and having the laws on the books trying to
fortify public safety.

"I do know from my experience, having been an expert in providing
evidence to the court on what the effects of marijuana are on the
body, that marijuana can create the same kinds of impairments that
alcohol does to the central nervous system -- it's a
depressant."

McPhail said the system also needs laws that protect society at large,
such as stronger laws about driving under the influence of alcohol
and/or marijuana, before legalization is considered.

"In terms of regulation, public safety is paramount, that's where I
have the issue because, yes, this is something that society might want
to consider but look at these other issues.

"What's going to stop someone from having a beer, smoking a joint and
having another beer?

"So if society takes a position it has to be a strong one and the
responsibility of the government is that the public has to be safe
because what do the studies say about marijuana?

"We've got all kinds of campaigns against smoking and trying to keep
that from people but I know that the carcinogens in marijuana are as
harmful, if not more harmful, than they are in cigarette smoke."

McPhail confirmed that the supply of marijuana was strongly linked to
organized crime and regulating it would help destroy most of those
links, but this outcome could only be achieved with proper education.

"Yes, it does create problems in terms of organized crime so if we
only temper the law in terms of personal possession then we do create
a market that flourishes for organized crime.

"And organized crime is a huge thing for us and so is marijuana as the
cash source for a lot of their organized activities.

"(Marijuana) also creates the funds for a lot of other ventures that
create misery in society: prostitution, drug abuse, gaming, fraud, all
of that, is funded by that fuel source.

"That said, if you legalized it, would that take away the problem?
Maybe, in time, with very quick regulation.

"We do know that the government has experimented with growing its own
marijuana, but there's still a lot of bridges to gap there.

"Education is one of the RCMP's pillars for strategic focus and if
we're not up to working towards that kind of stuff then we're missing
the boat by far."