Pubdate: Fri, 18 Apr 2008 Source: Kamloops This Week (CN BC) Copyright: 2008 Kamloops This Week Contact: http://www.kamloopsthisweek.com/ Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/1271 Author: Jeremy Deutsch HINTON NO FAN OF GREENS - OR GREEN A debate on what Canada should do with its marijuana laws always seems to pop up anytime there is a whiff of a federal election. And with minority government always a vote away from defeat, the Green Party of Canada is raising the issue in its party platform. The Greens would legalize pot, controlling it and taxing it like alcohol and tobacco in hopes of taking billions of dollars away from organized crime and gangs. The governing Conservative party's website attacked the Green's election platform, in part because of its call to legalize marijuana. But that attack suits local Green Party hopeful Donovan Cavers just fine. He said polls show that a majority - 55 per cent - of Canadians side with his party's position that marijuana should be legal, and he wants to see the herb treated more like a health issue. "It's kind of a double standard if you're trying to treat people with drug problems at the same time it's illegal," he said. But Kamloops-Thompson-Cariboo Conservative MP Betty Hinton doesn't appear to have much time for the Green's policy. When contacted by KTW and asked for a comment on the issue, Hinton responded via e-mail: "Unfortunately, I have no comment to make on the Green party policy you are asking about. I have not read it and wouldn't consider it relevant even if I had. The Green party does not have a single member elected to Parliament and therefore has no part in drafting legislation of any kind. Their views on issues are just that - their views. If you'd like to discuss any issues that are relevant either nationally or locally currently, please feel free to contact me as you have today." Cavers believes the Conservatives will run into trouble with voters over the issue because of their philosophy of prohibition. "It's proven [prohibition] doesn't really work because there is still a lot of drug use," he said, noting that, if anything, drug use has increased. - --- MAP posted-by: Derek