ANOTHER POT GUY JOINS RACE

It's no coincidence medical marijuana advocate Philippe Lucas plans to run
for city council this fall as a Green Party candidate.

The president of the Vancouver Island Compassion Society says aligning
himself with the Greens comes naturally.

"They're closest to my heart philosophically, in terms of a party, so for
me it wasn't a tough fit at all," he says. "It was a natural match."

While Lucas is convinced the Green Party offers him the best chance at
getting elected in November, he may, in fact, be the lone candidate the
party nominates for the municipal election, according to deputy provincial
leader Alistair Craighead of Victoria.

Craighead says he doesn't see a similar coalition developing between the
Greens and the Victoria Civic Electors, as the one which materialized
during the 1999 civic election. Especially since the VCE has already
nominated six people for councillor posts this fall.

"I think it's very unlikely that both parties will run two full slates of
candidates," he says. "I think that we'll probably find the platform of the
(VCE) people would probably not be that different than our own."

Craighead explains that most of the VCE candidates have "similar sympathies
in terms of municipal issues", such as regional planning, transportation
and green space preservation.

He adds that it isn't particularly necessary to flood the ballot with
green-thinking candidates to have strong representation on city council.

"I would certainly hope to see a progressive majority on council, and I
think there's a good chance of that happening."

While he's seeking office for the first time, Lucas, who grew up in Ottawa,
is no stranger to the political scene. His mother, Pierrette Lucas, is a
former press secretary to federal Progressive Conservative leader Joe
Clark, and later served as a consul-general at various locations in the
eastern United States.

Lucas, whose background is in child care, has taught at Esquimalt Community
School and Elizabeth Buckley School in Saanich. He now works in public
relations for Drug Sense, a U.S.-based organization fighting for drug
policy reform, and is the director of research for the Professional
Accountability Project, which provides cannabis information to the medical
community.

Lucas is the second medical marijuana advocate to declare his candidacy for
the civic election in Victoria. Ted Smith announced last month that he
would challenge incumbent Alan Lowe for mayor.

Craighead says Lucas's platform will be analyzed by a Green Party regional
nomination committee this week.