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Marijuana activist Dana Larsen sparks up B.C. NDP leadership race
Dana Larsen speaks to reporters on December 29 after declaring his candidacy for the B.C. NDP leadership.
Stephen Thomson
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Pot activist Dana Larsen has officially launched the first campaign to become the next B.C. New Democrat leader.
Larsen announced his candidacy today (December 29) during a news conference in Vancouver.
He said his campaign will focus on democracy, sustainability, social justice, and getting smart on crime.
He said he will offer a "real alternative choice" in the leadership contest.
Larsen is well-known as a vocal supporter of marijuana legalization. He helped found Cannabis Culture Magazine and the Vancouver Medicinal Cannabis Dispensary.
In 2008, he stepped down as a candidate for the federal NDP in the West Vancouver-Sunshine Coast-Sea to Sky Country riding when video footage surfaced of him taking LSD and smoking marijuana.
The provincial NDP is set to select a successor for outgoing leader Carole James during a one-member, one-vote election on April 17.
In early December, James announced she would be stepping down as provincial party leader after seven years in the role.
Her decision came amid an increasingly public dispute among NDP MLAs over her leadership.
Other potential leadership candidates have also recently emerged. They include B.C. NDP MLAs Adrian Dix, Mike Farnworth, and Bruce Ralston, as well as B.C. NDP MP Peter Julian.
You can follow Stephen Thomson on Twitter at twitter.com/thomsonstraight.
Dana Larsen announces his B.C. NDP leadership bid.
Kinda cryptic but I trust you'll figure it out.
I'm hard pressed to understand how this candidate would do better in a general election than Carole James.
Jenny Kwan has a lot of explaining to do.
Mentioning "sustainability, social justice" as part of his campaign's focus is going to cost him a lot of libertarian/conservative votes though. I'm not sure if progressives will go for him even with the open pandering, as progressives seem intent on solidifying themselves as corporate greenwashed undemocratic tax-loving nannystate prohibitionists.
Lastly, enough with the "video footage surfaced of him taking LSD and smoking marijuana." nonsense. NOTHING 'SURFACED' it was on his weekly show Weedy Wednesday on Pot-TV. No secrets were involved, no one was trying to hide anything. It was on the same network where Jack Layton declared he supported recreational marijuana. So stop trying to make it look like he's got something to hide.
Please stop the stupidity of trying to address every drug instead of staying with what the majority of us condone and that is BC CANNABIS
You will continue to kill our support by trying to represent the small group who wish to address all drugs
I will run against you myself if this continues
I say right here and right now that the issue should be addressed by so called leader candidates
And this province has a unique situation because of how it entered "confederation" and can re-legalize and regulate cannabis tomorrow if it wishes
As Trudeau said he would never re-legalize cannabis because those people can not be controlled .......
Think about that ......the government could not control people
This is the mind set you are fighting
Adian Dix is a rabid prohibitionist and like Harmsworth
We will get our harms worth out of him ..no doubt
I respect the fact that you are standing because some one should but if I hear one more story about opium or coca or LSD etc
I tell you right now and here I WILL RUN AGAINST YOU MYSELF
The ndp is not a head shop nor a pretend compassion club where you pimp pot like your fake hero emery
Quit screwing and adding more stigma to what we already deal with
This shouldn't be and is not about YOU !!!!!
Cheers
I invested an awful lot of time and effort within them and watched their cowardice internally while they pandered for our support
Their national leader wooed our votes and also showed he was actually yellow
and based on United Nations reports BC has the highest concentration of cannabis using voters in the world
Are they citizens with rights or not?
Is alcohol "safer" ...legal?? or illegal??
these are your kids and your taxes
we are paramilitarizing a police force that kills people at airports
I served in Canada's Armed Forces
Am I to be just written off as garbage because I prefer my beer in a joint??
What is the matter with some of you?
The rest of all illegal drugs.....which are all sold and just called pharmacutical names any way and may be delivered differently but hey they are the same drugs...period
And at some point we will decide to actually deal with that sanely as well
But the issue of cannabis must right now stand alone first in the BCNDP
We can not allow them to completely dismiss us and our rights by letting them say cannabis is the same as cocaine or heroin ...that is ridiculous and obviously I agree our present policies toward street prescribed hard drugs are totally wrong misguided and an a front to any sane person in my view by hey ...lots of money exploiting the weak do not forget
Police officers cost on average $75,000 a year
The delta fire man who grew and got caught with 350 plants walked away with house arrest for 5 months ..never lost his job that I know of and certainly not his house...apparently he did 38 waves or crops...then the lady in north van who lost her whole house over 55 plants one time with an MS patient neighbor
Kids in 100 thousand dollar Hummers with hand guns every time the police have a photo op of inflated value drugs
An innocent by stander shot dead on Boxing Day
6 shot in a Surrey high rise
For what???????
I demands some one ...any one...one of these so called leaders in this province to get it through their heads that this issue needs addressing !!
The ndp will loose the next election to some party if they refuse to address re-legalizing and regulating cannabis in BC and they should either come out of the closet or give up any pretension they have cannabis as an issue
Thank you for raising it
In your messianic fervour to seek out articles that mention the NDP, you neglected to notice that you are railing against a two-year-old post.
Have a nice day.
See my comment directly above.
Nunya:
Well, then, help yourself to the archives.
Anyone but NDP, seriously folks...
It's a glitch. We expect to have it sorted out in the near future.
In the meantime, all I can suggest is that you check the date at the top of an article when you open it in the "most commented" list.
Some old pieces are showing up there unexpectedly.
His western separtist coalition . What is a household , municipal , provincial issue he turns into big brother while seeking a night hood and the richest fascist he can find to sell out to
Just say NO to NDP
It is not several years since I advised you. It is several weeks.
And the fix should be made by the end of next week or the beginning of the week following.
Use the date of this posting for reference if you find temporal realities somewhat distracting.