Pubdate: Tue, 02 May 2006
Source: Guardian, The (UK)
Copyright: 2006 Guardian Newspapers Limited
Contact:  http://www.guardian.co.uk/guardian/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/175
Author: Carl Wagner, Legalise Cannabis Alliance
Note: Five unrelated candidates' statements excised
Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/decrim.htm (Decrim/Legalization)
Cited: Legalise Cannabis Alliance http://www.lca-uk.org

IT'S MY PARTY

Since 2004 there has been a huge rise in the number of parties 
registered with the Electoral Commission. So what are these aspiring 
politicians standing for? Steve Boggan asks six candidates in 
Thursday's local elections why they are going it alone

Carl Wagner, 47

He is contesting the Avenues ward in Hull for the Legalise Cannabis Alliance.

The main reason for me standing is to oppose the increasing appetite 
for jailing people for using cannabis. There is no rationale for it. 
To pretend that most people who use cannabis don't benefit and are 
harmed by it is just nonsense.

I have six children and I find it impossible to explain the reasoning 
behind Britain's drug policies. Only the other day, a supermarket in 
Hull was fined UKP80 for selling alcohol to children, but an old 
woman was fined UKP400 for growing cannabis plants for medicinal purposes.

To argue that cannabis laws are in place to safeguard children is 
disingenuous. A recent survey for the local paper in Hull showed that 
40% of 14- and 15-year-olds smoke cannabis. But when asked how much 
they were paying for an ounce, respondents said UKP40 or less. The 
price for good herbal cannabis should be UKP120 an ounce. That means 
that kids on the streets are being given soap bar, a dangerous, cheap 
and nasty resin often polluted with coffee, glue or plastics. So 
society is letting kids smoke that stuff while it turns a blind eye 
to it. Until this injustice is resolved and I can explain cannabis 
policy properly to my children, I'll keep on campaigning. When you 
stand for a single issue, you have a much better chance of getting 
your message across.

Voters today believe that politicians are inherently corrupt. That is 
why, increasingly, they are putting people like us first. They feel 
they can trust us. Something is happening to our electoral system. 
Dare I call it a revolution?
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MAP posted-by: Jay Bergstrom