QUIZ YOUR CANDIDATES ABOUT POT

Political activist Mike Cust estimates that he works on behalf of about
65,000 Edmontonians. If you count the city's suburbs, that number climbs to
more than 90,000. Across Alberta, it's more than a quarter of a million people.

You'd think with a constituency that large, the 24-year-old Cust would be a
major player in the federal election campaign. You would be forgiven for
assuming that candidates of all stripes are trying to arrange lunch
meetings, currying his favour, tripping over themselves to earn his
endorsement.

This time around, however, Cust's phone is all but silent. No one, it
seems, wants to even talk about his issue, let alone take a bold stand on it.

It's not as if the people he represents are going to take to the streets.
The vast majority of this "community" wouldn't want their parents (or
children, for the older members) to know they're a part of it. Besides,
they're probably too distracted by the munchies.

Cust is a marijuana-legalization activist. He bases the size of his
constituency on surveys that conclude 10% of the general population smokes
pot regularly.

The Edmonton native has worked for the B.C. Marijuana party and with the
Washington, D.C.-based Cato Institute, where he helped to develop its drug
policy.

But this time around, he describes himself as being an "activist in limbo"
whose cause isn't on the radar screen.

Yet. Cust hopes Edmonton voters are paying close attention to what's going
on in Ontario, where suddenly all the hot-button issues are bubbling to the
surface. Politicians are having to answer dreaded questions about abortion,
same-sex marriage and yes, marijuana legalization. Now the major party
leaders are doing the double-speak shuffle, trying to explain their views
on these issues without offending anyone.

Jack Layton and the New Democrats are the most pot-friendly bunch, with a
clear policy of decriminalization. But that wasn't enough to keep Layton
from considering a lawsuit against Canada's leading pot activist, Marc
Emery, who is distributing thousands of leaflets around Toronto featuring a
portrait of Layton superimposed over a marijuana leaf and urging people to
"Vote NDP!"

The Conservatives' Harper wants to keep pot illegal, and when asked if he
has ever smoked the herb himself, joked, "No, I have not. I was offered a
joint once and I was too drunk." Rimshot!

I thought I'd play a local version of the game. I called all three major
candidates in Edmonton-Strathcona, the epicentre of the city's cannabis
culture, and asked them their views. Here are the responses:

Debby Carlson, Liberal: Carlson was direct and forthright, advocating for
outright legalization. That way, she says, criminals will be cut out of the
business and the government can do what it does best: tax pot users up the
wazoo. Asked if she ever tried the stuff herself, she said no, but added,
"I grew up in the '70s, and spent a lot of time in rooms where it was being
smoked."

Malcolm Azania, NDP: Happy to talk about anything other than whether he's
anti-Semitic, Azania toed the party line in favour of decriminalization. He
emphasized that he's personally "100% anti-drug." But locking up people for
smoking dope, he said, is "a total waste of resources."

Rahim Jaffer, Conservative (incumbent): Jaffer's communications director,
Steven Barrett, took my call to find out what I wanted before unleashing me
on his candidate. Barrett phoned back a few hours later to say Jaffer's too
busy to speak with me, even for five minutes. Oh well, at least they didn't
try to send a stand-in.

You might want to try this when candidates show up on your doorstep,
wanting to discuss vague notions like the kind of Canada you want or if
your government is working hard enough for you. Watch their eyes go wide
like a teenager caught with a joint.