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Canada Green Party leader sorry for not smoking pot


jayr

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http://ca.news.yahoo.com/s/afp/080917/canada/canada_vote_narcotics_law

OTTAWA (AFP) - Canada's Green Party leader Elizabeth May apologized on Wednesday for never having smoked marijuana, as she unveiled her election plank, which touts legalizing and taxing pot.

"I am not a fan of marijuana use," May told reporters at a campaign stop in Halifax, televised nationally. "I've never used marijuana. I apologize."

The Green Party in its policy document said decades-old marijuana prohibition "has utterly failed and has not led to reduced drug use in Canada."

Rather, prohibition has led to costly policing to combat its distribution, "criminalizing youth and fostering organized crime," it argues.

Going further than former Liberal prime minister Jean Chretien's 2002 pledge to decriminalize marijuana that was twice foiled by US protests, the Green Party says it supports cannabis sales to adults through licensed distributors.

As well, the party would like to see "small, independent growers" thrive, and the government taxing the weed at the same rate as tobacco, generating an estimated one billion dollars Canadian (931 million US) annually.

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If only she weren't such a bible-thumper.

She is deeply religious and is studying to be an ordained minister - I don't think that makes her a 'bible thumper' though, by any means. And I don't think it is a worry about her as a leader. For example, she is personally very opposed to abortion, but as a matter of public policy, concedes that accessible abortion ought to remain available despite her personal opposition (to the practice, not the policy)

I've never known her to push or 'thump' her religious convictions at all and think she has more than enough intellectual capacity to differentiate her personal preferences from the broader public good.

It feels like an unfair characterization. Though maybe you have an example in mind that I'm unaware of?

(Disclaimer: Not a Green Party supporter, but have respect for Elizabeth May)

Edited by Guest
switched quotes, because it looked like I was replying directly to large marge
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