Pubdate: Fri, 09 Jun 2006
Source: StarPhoenix, The (CN SN)
Copyright: 2006 The StarPhoenix
Contact:  http://www.canada.com/saskatoon/starphoenix/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/400
Author: James Wood
Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/mjcn.htm (Cannabis - Canada)
Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/find?196 (Emery, Marc)

MARIJUANA PARTY ROLLS INTO SASK. POLITICS

REGINA -- The proverbial "smoke-filled rooms" where political deals 
are cut may take on a whole new meaning in Saskatchewan.

The Saskatchewan Marijuana Party has become an officially registered 
provincial political party with Elections Saskatchewan.

Like other marijuana parties in the country, it is expected to 
advocate the legalization of possession and cultivation of cannabis.

But Saskatchewan Marijuana Party leaders aren't talking right now.

Party president Ethan Erkiletian said the party won't make an 
official statement until June 20.

The timing is related to the June 19 Weyburn-Big Muddy byelection, 
although the party does not and cannot have a candidate in that race.

"We're trying not to step on anybody's toes right now," Erkiletian 
said without elaborating further.

The party's leader is Nathan Holowaty, a Saskatoon pot activist who 
was formerly president of the NDP campus club at the University of 
Saskatchewan.

A December 2004 article in the Sheaf campus newspaper said the 
Saskatchewan Marijuana Party was being formed in part because the 
provincial justice system took a punitive approach toward marijuana.

It says the party's formation was given impetus by the March 2004 
arrest and incarceration of British Columbia marijuana activist Marc 
Emery in Saskatoon for passing a joint in Kiwanis Park.

Emery, the leader of the B.C. Marijuana Party, said upon his release 
from jail in October 2004 that a marijuana party would be established 
in Saskatchewan and that it would field a full slate of candidates in 
the next provincial election.

Provincial chief electoral officer Jean Ouellet said registering 
means the Saskatchewan Marijuana Party can field candidates under the 
party name, raise and spend money and issue tax receipts for donations.

To register, the party needed 2,500 signatures on a petition. Of that 
amount, 1,000 had to come from 10 different constituencies.

The Marijuana Party joins the NDP, Saskatchewan Party, Liberals, 
Progressive Conservatives, Green Party and Western Independence Party 
on the provincial registry.

The NDP government and Opposition Saskatchewan Party did not respond 
to requests for comment.
- ---
MAP posted-by: Jay Bergstrom