MARIJUANA VOTE LIGHTS UP

Decriminalization Of Pot On Agenda Of Candidates In Two North Shore
Ridings

THE grass just got greener on the North Shore.

Home to a fair share of pot puffers -- as well as illegal marijuana
cultivation operations -- North and West Vancouver now have two
federal election candidates representing the Marijuana Party of Canada.

The Marijuana Party agenda is basic: end marijuana prohibition in
Canada.

The candidate for West Vancouver-Sunshine Coast is Dana Larsen. In
North Vancouver the candidate is Tunya Audain.

North Shore political junkies will likely be familiar with Audain's
name. She is a founding member of the B.C. Civil Liberties
Association. In 1985, the West Vancouver resident was voted volunteer
of the year by the junior league. She founded the Gifted Children's
Association of B.C. Audain is a pioneer in the school reform movement.
She is the coordinator for Education Advisory, a West Vancouver-based
group which promotes community participation in education.

She has run as a candidate for the Libertarian Party in past federal
and provincial elections.

This time out the Libertarian option was not available to her on the
federal stage. The party failed to come up with the 50 candidates
needed nationally to rate as a viable federal party.

Libertarians, according to Audain, believe people should have "minimum
interference and meddling in their peaceful, voluntary, non-coercive
lives. We find the government meddling in people's lifestyle choices
and how they govern themselves." She says Libertarians support the
decriminalization of marijuana. "A lot of crime fighting resources are
being diverted. They could be used for other things in this country.
It was a natural for me to seek the nomination for the Marijuana Party
as a single issue."

Audain does not smoke marijuana, but she said, "I know the experience
of pot because I smoked it when I was an art student in New York and
that was 40 years ago. It's not a part of my life, except that my
people, the Russian Doukhobors that came into Canada as immigrants in
1900, brought hemp seeds with them. Hemp was a clothing item and
farmers planted hemp as a wind break between farms."

She believes that by decriminalizing the substance, it will not be
"pushed" on young people. "I'm a grandmother, I've got two
grandchildren. If it was decriminalized, it would become more of a
normal experience like tobacco or coffee or alcohol."

She gathered 100 signatures in the community to become a candidate.
The reaction has varied. "Maybe a quarter of the people that I
approached for a signature, were quite emotional about it and opposed
marijuana being decriminalized." Others were glad to sign her papers.
"I heard a lot of stories. There was a mother whose son is about 20
and has to have marijuana as a medical need. He was withering away.
The pot was helping him restore his life and appetite. Others know of
people who have AIDS and cancer and the pot ameliorates their
suffering. Other people use it for recreational use and a lot of young
people were pretty gung ho."