POT PARTY PRES. BUSTED IN SASKATOON

The president of the B.C. Marijuana Party didn't arrive as planned to
speak at Lethbridge Community College Thursday because he was under
arrest.

Saskatoon police confirmed Marc Emery was arrested Monday in a
riverside park and charged with trafficking.

Emery, a Vancouverite who also publishes Cannabis Culture magazine,
was supposed to speak about issues facing students, said Lethbridge
Community College Students Association president Preston Scholz. LCC
student Dustin Schmidt originally approached the students association
about Emery's visit.

While he gave approval to hold the session, he said he later got a
hint of the session's true purpose when posters for the event depicted
a marijuana leaf. Scholz didn't approve the posters and said he was
relieved when he learned Emery wasn't going to be able to appear. The
legalization of marijuana is not an issue appropriate for the students
association to take a position on.

"We represent students from every walk of life," Scholz
said.

When Emery couldn't make it, Schmidt's wife Sarah and her brother
Charlie Christensen volunteered to stand in, with the understanding
they would focus on larger student issues.

However, for the roughly 40 people who attended the session, the use
and legalization of marijuana was a theme often returned to.

Several audience members identified themselves as marijuana users,
advocated legalizing marijuana and touted its benefits. One asked
about influence of the United States over Canada when it comes to
marijuana laws.

Sarah replied that B.C. is starting a prescription program for
medicinal marijuana.

"That would have happened a long time ago if not for the U.S. and its
war on drugs," Sarah said, adding marijuana-growing is a $6-billion
industry employing 290,000 people. Legalizing the crop and charging a
seven per cent tax would net $420 million that could be put towards
areas like education.