Pubdate: Fri, 06 May 2005 Source: Surrey Leader (CN BC) Copyright: 2005 Surrey Leader Contact: http://www.surreyleader.com/ Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/1236 Author: Sheila Reynolds Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/mjparty.htm (Canadian Marijuana Party) MARIJUANA PARTY SHUT OUT OF SURREY SCHOOL DEBATES B.C. Marijuana Party candidates will no longer be allowed to participate in all-candidates meetings at Surrey schools. Amanda Boggan, who's representing the Marijuana party in Surrey-Green Timbers, was initially invited to attend a political debate for students at Queen Elizabeth Secondary on Wednesday morning. However, she was contacted by a student organizer the night before and asked not to show up. "I was a bit stunned. I've never been disinvited to anything in my life," Boggan said. "I got off the phone and felt like a bad person for awhile, and then realized it was actually detrimental to the students' education about the electoral process for certain parties to be excluded." Armed with an election sign, she and Surrey-Whalley Marijuana candidate Neil Magnuson appeared at the high school at different times prior to the debate - which was attended by the NDP's Sue Hammell, Communist Harjit Daudaria, the Green's Roy Whyte, and Annexationist Gordon Brosseuk - only to be told to leave school property by the principal and security personnel. Surrey School District spokesperson Doug Strachan said the blanket decision not to include Marijuana party candidates in local school debates came after a candidate at a similar political meeting at Fraser Heights Secondary earlier this week distributed articles, magazines and stickers promoting the use of pot. He said the pro-pot candidates were initially permitted in schools to make the election process as realistic as possible for students and to show that fringe and one-issue parties exist. "But at the same time we just could not allow that sort of information concerning a substance that is still illegal to be promoted to our students," Strachan said. "We're trying to strike a balance. We can appreciate lobbying to have laws changed, and that's a legitimate point of view and certainly something our students can learn from. But we can't condone the promotion of them taking an illegal substance." Many schools are holding all-candidates meetings and mock elections as part of an Elections BC process called Student Vote BC wherein teens learn about elections, campaigns, and cast practice ballots the day before the provincial election. Kirk Tousaw, Marijuana party campaign manager, called the exclusion of candidates an anti-democratic exercise and "one that teaches a very negative lesson to our youth, who are increasingly disenfranchised from our political system." Boggan said she wasn't surprised at the school district's stance in light of a letter written to the solicitor general of Canada by trustees in May 2004 expressing concerns about the potential consequences the decriminalization of marijuana could have on students. "I'm not a drug addict or a dealer - I'm a parent," Boggan said. "I want a system that protects kids from being exploited by dealers and traffickers." - --- MAP posted-by: Larry Seguin