
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.
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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