Pot Legalization By The Marijuana Party

MANN PUSHING FOR POT LEGALIZATION
(Michael Mann candidate for the Canada Marijuana Party)

Nanaimo-Alberni Marijuana Party candidate Michael Mann picked up more than 400 votes in the last provincial election spreading the message that marijuana should be legal in Canada.

420 Index

 The Toronto born former fishing boat deckhand and taxi and courier truck driver came to Vancouver Island in 1979 and moved to Port Alberni from Victoria in 2002.
Mann, 46, whose hobby is skydiving, is on a permanent disability pension for spinal arthritis and holds a federal permit to legally grow and possess pot for medicinal purposes.
He is a former director of the Vancouver Island Compassion Society and became a marijuana activist when he determined the federal government was not making medical marijuana cheaply and readily available or seriously moving towards legalization.
"The only reason we have medical marijuana is because the courts ordered it, not because the government gave it to us." said Mann
"We've had sick people who've had to get into court and fight the government every step of the way."
He says the marijuana issue ties into social and economic issues mainstream political parties are touting, such as health care, jobs, and industries and, compared with the social impact of alcohol, it is ridiculous marijuana is illegal.
"It also ties very strongly into sovereignty by standing up and saying we're not going to be bullied by the police states of America into their failed war on drugs." he said.
"Other countries such as New Zealand and Jamaica, Commonwealth countries, that have also expressed interest in legalization or completely decriminalizing marijuana are constantly bullied by the Gestapo States of America. We could set a precedent around the world and say we will not be bullied into an American way of thinking."
Mann, if elected, would ban raw log exports and fight to turn hemp products production into a major industry and maintain the moratorium on oil exploration off the B.C. coast.
"I'm constantly hearing people are really upset with the government." he said.
"And I honestly say the only way to show them you're really, really angry is to send a Marijuana Party guy there because nothing makes a statement like that. A statement, not just here, but to the world that Canada is a free-thinking, forward-thinking, progressive nation.

bibliography - Nanaimo News Bulletin