The is a
Canadian Federal Political Party that aims to end
Prohibition of
Cannabis .
The party was founded by
Marc-Boris St-Maurice , an
Activist and member of the
Punk group
Grim Skunk . After a 1991 arrest for possession of
Marijuana , he vowed to legalize cannabis. He started by creating the
Bloc Pot , a
Quebec political party and eventually, as the current law prohibiting the possession of cannabis is a federal law, founded the federal Marijuana Party. On
February 28 ,
2005 , St-Maurice announced his intention to join the
Liberal Party in order to work for liberalized marijuana laws from within the governing party.
Blair T. Longley became the new Party Leader following St-Maurice's resignation.
In the
2000 Federal Elections , the party nominated candidates in 73
Ridings in 7 provinces and won 66,419 votes (0.52% of national total). It nominated 71 candidates for the
2004 General Election and won 33,590 votes (0.3%). The decline may be at least partly due to the fact that the
Liberal Party Of Canada , the
Bloc Québécois (Bloc) and the
New Democratic Party (NDP) have been moving towards
Decriminalization of the drug.
Some party members were said to be considering endorsing the NDP because of its liberal stand on marijuana laws during the last campaign. However, the party has attracted new members from the New Democratic Party ranks as the NDP commitment to ending cannabis prohibition has been lukewarm at best, and at times the party has been actively hostile toward activists who promote this policy. One example is cannabis activist
Tim Meehan , the Marijuana Party candidate for Ottawa South whom worked on the NDP campaign in the 38th General Election.
From the Marijuana Party's "Complete platform, Adopted in April 2002":
- Demonstrate the social advantages to ending cannabis prohibition
- Develop and integrate legislation to legalize cannabis
- Amend the Canada Elections Act in order to offer solutions to the parliamentary representation deficit.
- Defend the victims of cannabis prohibition
- Promote international policy -- ending cannabis prohibition in Canada and subsequently pressure the international community into acting responsibly by adopting similar policies.
- Offer immediate access to medical cannabis
In addition to the Bloc Pot party in Quebec, Marijuana Parties have several separate
Provincial counterparts, most notably, the
British Columbia Marijuana Party which received over 3% of the vote in the
2001 Provincial Election , and the
Marijuana Party Of Nova Scotia . The Bloc Pot and the Federal Marijuana Party work together,
however, the B.C. Marijuana Party and the Federal Marijuana Party do not work together.
