Suetaz

Marijuana Party hopes seeds grow pots of cash

Jonathan Woodward | The Province | June 14, 2004

The Marijuana Party of Canada is selling pot seeds to raise money.

"We're going to do it to fund the campaign and the movement in general," said party leader Marc-Boris St-Maurice, who is running against Prime Minister Paul Martin in the Quebec riding of Lasalle-Emard.

"We're going to be doing this for the remainder of our existence until pot is legal."

The party buys the seeds in bulk from Canadian suppliers such as Willy Jack and Sensi Seeds.

Then it sells packs of 10 at prices ranging from $10 for non-viable "decorative" seeds through to "thoroughbred, Cannabis Cup-winning" varieties at $400 a pop.

St-Maurice said in a phone interview the party has sold only five or six packs since the campaign began.

"It's by no means a gold mine yet, but it will come. It's a very political action."

He said his goal is to raise money for the party and encourage Canadians to break the law.

"A bad law should be broken and this is the way to . . . bring the law down."

Adrien Contin of Elections Canada said: "If candidates break the law while they are raising funds, they have to deal with the law of the land."

A Montreal police officer said last night it is unlikely St-Maurice would be prosecuted for selling seeds.

The Criminal Code prohibits possession of marijuana, as well as growing and trafficking, but selling seeds seems to fall into a grey area.

"It appears not to be illegal in that people who are doing it are not being charged for doing it," said Neil Boyd, a professor of criminology at Simon Fraser University and author of High Society, a book on marijuana in Canada.

Marijuana seeds have so little THC -- the psychoactive ingredient -- that the courts might hear an argument that the seeds are not a drug, he said.

But court cases in Alberta and B.C. have set a precedent that possession of viable seeds is a criminal offence, said lawyer John Conroy, although the rulings may not bind courts in Quebec.

St. Maurice, meanwhile, has been charged with possession of marijuana, a charge related to pot, not seeds.

The party is running 71 candidates across Canada, with nine in B.C.

jwoodward@png.canwest.com

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