cannabisnews.com: NDP Leadership Candidates Favour Legalizing Pot





NDP Leadership Candidates Favour Legalizing Pot
Posted by CN Staff on January 08, 2003 at 07:04:42 PT
By Kim Lunman
Source: Globe and Mail 
Ottawa -- They inhaled -- and exhaled. Several front-runners in the New Democratic Party leadership race admitted in a nationally televised debate last night to smoking pot at some point in their lives. The question was raised in connection with the candidates' position on decriminalizing marijuana.Jack Layton, a well-known Toronto city councillor, joked that he never exhaled, a reference to the effects of second-hand smoke. "Six or seven million Canadians have tried marijuana. Are they criminals? I don't think so," Mr. Layton said.
"What we do need to do is take a sensible approach."Mr. Layton said the federal government, which is planning to decriminalize marijuana this year, should go further and legalize pot."Unlike Jack, who has amazing respiratory powers, I did exhale," veteran Winnipeg MP Bill Blaikie said. "I'm a creature of my generation like a lot of other people who turned 18 in 1969, but it's been a long time since I inhaled or exhaled. But I think it's long overdue that we stop making criminals out of people who choose to smoke marijuana."Mr. Blaikie, who is in a tight race with Mr. Layton, said that the war on drugs in the United States isn't working and that Canada should decriminalize marijuana."Unlike Bill, when I was a university student I didn't just exhale, I inhaled and exhaled a couple of times," Regina MP Lorne Nystrom said. "I don't smoke and I didn't like smoking and since than I haven't even tried it."He called on the government to legalize marijuana to take distribution out of "criminal hands."Pierre Ducasse, a Quebec party organizer, also admitted to smoking marijuana once. "I think we should legalize it and put it under state control and take it out of the black market," he said.Windsor, Ont., MP Joe Comartin, who said he has never smoked pot, suggested that marijuana be legalized and distributed by a government-regulated agency "like a liquor control board."Vancouver activist Bev Meslo refused to say whether she had ever smoked pot. "I don't think I should have to answer any questions about my personal life whether they pertain to how old my grandson is or what and if I smoke," she said. But her position on the political pot question was clear. "I believe marijuana should be deregulated. I believe it should grow like grass."The convention to replace retiring leader Alexa McDonough will be held in Toronto Jan. 24-26.The Liberal government's decision to decriminalize marijuana followed a recent recommendation in a parliamentary report on the non-medical use of drugs. A Senate report last fall also urged the government to legalize pot.Under the plan to decriminalize, people caught with small amounts of marijuana would not be criminally charged but would face fines. Source: Globe and Mail (Canada)Author: Kim LunmanPublished: Wednesday, January 8, 2003 – Print Edition, Page A5Copyright: 2003 The Globe and Mail CompanyContact: letters globeandmail.caWebsite: http://www.globeandmail.com/Related Articles & Web Site:Cannabis News Canadian Linkshttp://freedomtoexhale.com/can.htmAction Overdue on Pot Lawshttp://cannabisnews.com/news/thread15134.shtmlMomentum Growing for Pot Law Reformhttp://cannabisnews.com/news/thread15123.shtmlLegalized Pot Seems Likely Up Northhttp://cannabisnews.com/news/thread15102.shtml
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Comment #5 posted by afterburner on April 01, 2003 at 20:00:33 PT:
greek_philosophizer 
The NDP is a third party in Canada.[ History of The New Democratic Party http://www.nf.ndp.ca/history.htm ] It has been most influential in the West. Tommy Douglas led the first CCF government in Sasketchewan; CCF was the ancestor of NDP. [ Tommy Douglas - Sask NDP History
http://www.saskndp.com/history/douglas.html ] His government was responsible for "birth of public hospitalization and medicare," making "collective bargaining mandatory and extend[ing] the rights of civil servants." "Building on the 1944 campaign slogan of Humanity First, the first CCF budget devoted 70 per cent of its expenditures to health, welfare and education." The NDP once controlled Ontario under Bob Rae. "Bob Rae had his chance to implement the Third Way as Premier of Ontario from 1990-1995. Not only were his right-wing policy initiatives ill-conceived, but they also conveyed an absolute disdain for the grassroots policy decisions of activists within the party. The 'Social Contract,' the abandonment of public auto insurance, the introduction of casino gambling, decreases in corporate taxation, education cutbacks and the Rae government's flip flop on the common pause day have indefinitely scarred the NDP." -from Bob Rae's "The Three Questions" http://www.web.net/~ondy/ondy/socfre/issue4/savage4.html
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Comment #4 posted by greek_philosophizer on January 09, 2003 at 05:54:14 PT:
New Democratic Party?
I am from the USA and know
little of the NDP. How large
are they in Canada?
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Comment #3 posted by boppy on January 08, 2003 at 18:48:53 PT
to clarify
My remarks were in regards to the link that GCW posted.
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Comment #2 posted by boppy on January 08, 2003 at 18:42:48 PT
Scary and funny
Sometimes I laugh at these types of worthless opinions. And sometimes it's scary especially when this boob is a district attorney. I believe that this type of person could watch the movie, "Reefer Madness" and actually agree with the silly message it was supposed to deliver. This guy reminds me of Dean Wormer. Let's put him on "double secret probation".
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Comment #1 posted by The GCW on January 08, 2003 at 07:30:54 PT
And then there is this diaper scrap...
LEGALIZING DRUGS: REST OF STORY Author: Jerry Estes, District Attorney General http://www.mapinc.org/drugnews/v03/n031/a01.html?397Cleveland Daily Banner (TN) It is interesting to read such differences, where one regional group is in favor of eating diaper scrap and another region is not in favor of eating diaper scrap.Jerry Estes is in favor of not only eating diaper scrap but sucking urine from others.He is gross.
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