MARIJUANA PARTY LEADER PAYS VISIT TO SUPPORT REGION'S CANDIDATE

NELSON - The leader of a national party stopped into Nelson on a campaign
tour yesterday, but few noticed.

It may have lacked the fanfare of a stop by the likes of Jean Chretien,
Stockwell Day or Joe Clark, but federal Marijuana Party leader Marc-Boris
St-Maurice touched down in the Kootenays because he felt it was important
to lend support to local candidate Dan Loehndorf.

"I think it is important that I go to where our support is high," said
St-Maurice. "I think the sensible and level-headed approach that Dan's had
in his campaign is one of the models of what the candidates should be doing
out there. He has had a very balanced approach and I wish all the
candidates were as accurate as Dan."

St-Maurice was on a tour of the West when he heard about the controversy
surrounding the administration of L.V. Rogers High School not allowing
Loehndorf to participate in an all-candidates meeting.

To help Loehndorf get the message out while the issue was hot, St-Maurice
re-routed his tour and drove to Nelson Wednesday.

"These students who have been denied the chance to hear what Dan has to say
are just going to want to hear it twice as much," St-Maurice said about the
candidates meeting which was ultimately cancelled. "I think this will
create more of a desire to fight for the legalization so they have actually
created future voters and and even future candidates."

St-Maurice started the Marijuana Party in Quebec earlier this year. The
31-year-old musician said the impetus for the creation for a national party
began 10 years ago when he was arrested for simple possession of pot. He
became a marijuana activist and late last year decided to take his activism
to a new level.

"I realized that there were so many activists out there living in isolation
in their own towns and I wanted to unite them," he said. "The political
party formula was a natural one for which we didn't have to re-invent the
wheel."

St-Maurice ran in this past summer's by-election against Canadian Alliance
leader stockwell DAy in the Okanagan. This time he is back in his native
Quebec and running against Bloc Quebecois leader Gilles Duceppe.

As for the long-term viability of his party, St-Maurice said he will
continue to lobby government at the election level until the laws regarding
marijuana are changed.

"There will be a Marijuana Party until such time that the product is
legalized and once that is done we will cease to have a reason to exist,"
said St-Maurice.

"Prohibition is keeping us in business, the more they arrest people the
more angry militants we have. But, we hope to be out of business as soon
as possible."

As for Election 2000. St-Maurice said regardless of the outcome on Monday
his fledgling party has successfully made a statement.

"I think the most important message is that marijuana advocates are not too
stoned to find their shoes. They are actually smart, bright, motivated,
resourceful people that are angry and willing to do something about it,"
said St-Maurice. "Our very existence is doing a lot to undo the myth that
pot smoking turns you into a loser."