SKMP Founding Convention Report

The convention was quite the exhilarating experience. We ratified and amended the founding constitution of the party, we debated resolutions, we gave speeches and we talked politics. Helping build a political party is every political nerd’s dream. I was never all that interested in politics until I got involved in the SKMP (Saskatchewan Marijuana Party), but I have to tell you that I have now become a devoted political wonk. I even want to become a candidate in the upcoming provincial election. Having my name on the ballot would be great! Running as a candidate in the future is something to think about and look forward to. The convention lit up enthusiasm for the political process in a huge way. I even ran for and won a position on the executive council as a vice president. I had absolutely no intention of running until I was at the convention. While I have supported the party by flipping burgers and making displays, I have never taken part in meetings or event planning. I am looking forward to making a bigger contribution to the party.

In the past I thought of the various provincial and federal marijuana parties with some disdain. I considered it hopeless and futile to run under a marijuana party banner because a marijuana party candidate will never get elected. This is a hopelessly pessimistic view of the situation and I have definitely changed my mind.

Even if no marijuana party candidate ever gets elected, marijuana parties serve some very important functions. When the voter is in the polling booth, the name of the marijuana party candidate on their ballot is a distinct reminder that there are a dedicated group of activists that want to see drug prohibition come to an end. Hopefully, this will encourage the public to become more aware of the gross injustice that marijuana users have endured for the past eighty years. I believe that public education of all the evil wrongness of the war on drugs is one of our most important functions. We need to let the public know about the expense and the ineffectiveness of the war on drugs. It is a fact that our rates of adolescent drug use are higher than in the liberal Netherlands despite the "but what about the children" rhetoric of the drug warriors. Voting for a marijuana party candidate is a very bold statement: I want to end the drug war. Every vote for a marijuana party candidate is a vote taken away from a Sask Party or NDP candidate. It is a very bold act of civil disobedience and sends a strong message that the voters want drug law reform.

A lot of excellent thoughts and ideas were put forward by members of the SKMP. The public has the same attitude towards drug use as the Victorians had about sex. During the Victorian era, there were many misconceptions about sex because people could not talk about it. Masturbation was thought to cause blindness and hairy palms. Women were considered asexual creatures. Boys were circumcised to prevent masturbation. The same thing has happened with drugs. Science-based information about drugs is sorely lacking and the demonization of marijuana and marijuana users has been the result. Most people think that marijuana causes cancer despite all the scientific information that shows that marijuana does not cause cancer and may actually reduce the risk of cancer. Despite all the research that proves that the gateway theory is bullshit, many people still believe the gateway theory.

The real drug problem in our society is alcohol. Alcohol is highly addictive and causes many overdose deaths yet our drug education efforts are aimed at reducing the use of marijuana. The way society deals with drugs is highly illogical. Even people living within the drug culture are not immune to the Victorian attitudes towards marijuana. There are many marijuana users that think that its’ bad and should stay illegal. There are many marijuana users that use marijuana excessively. There has to be a middle ground and showing the public that marijuana can be used properly has to be a priority.

The prohibition of marijuana is a perfect example of the tyranny of the majority of a minority. When the substance was banned there were very few users of marijuana in Canada. Taking away the civil rights of a non-existent group of Canadians was done in 1923 without parliamentary discussion or debate. If those parlimentarians could have looked into a crystal ball and seen the immense social and economic costs of prohibition, there is no way they would have done it.

I am basically preaching to the choir by posting this on my blog. Hopefully I can work within the SKMP to bring this message to a broader audience. I have a lot of ideas and I hope I can bring them to fruition.

Sincerely,


Tanya Derbowka
Vice-President, Saskatchewan Marijuana Party