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From: "Breitkreuz, Garry - Assistant 1" To: "Firearms Digest (E-mail)" Subject: "We should be registering sex offenders, not duck hunters,'' he q uips. Date: Tue, 17 Apr 2001 09:18:44 -0400

PUBLICATION: The Province DATE: 2001.04.17 EDITION: FINAL SECTION: Editorial PAGE: A18 COLUMN: Jon Ferry BYLINE: Jon Ferry SOURCE: The Province ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- ---- Game marijuana party candidate gets goods on government ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- ---- Don't be surprised during the coming B.C. election campaign if one of the command performances doesn't come from the B.C. Marijuana Party. Now, before you think I've been smoking something, consider this -- there are scores of ordinary British Columbians who are sick of government intervention in every aspect of their lives. They're people like Paul Geddes, an economics instructor at Vancouver's Columbia College, who suggests most of his pals would label him ``a straight-laced, conservative, boring book-reader.'' Married for more than 20 years, Geddes is the son of a Presbyterian minister, with two kids in a private Christian elementary school. His idea of a celebration consists of the odd beer. And, no, he doesn't smoke pot. Geddes is, in fact, president of the B.C. Libertarian Party. He says he's running for the Marijuana Party because the Libertarian Party has been de-registered by the elections gnomes for past failure to file proper election paperwork. Geddes is also running for the Marijuana Party because he believes the war against drugs costs more lives than it saves -- and epitomizes the evils of the police state. ``The war against drugs is really a war against personal choice and responsibility,'' he states. Geddes, 46, even has a sense of humour, a key asset when you're running as a fringe party candidate. He also has a healthy disrespect for such preachy pop icons as eco-propagandist David Suzuki. The freedom to use drugs, Geddes notes, does not mean you have to use them: ``There are many legal activities in Canada that I would strongly urge you to stay away from -- the music of Madonna, David Suzuki sermons or eating cabbage. All are harmful to thinking minds, but I would never advocate making any such distasteful activities illegal.'' Besides, Geddes says, anyone who's lived in B.C. for the last decade knows that voting NDP is much more dangerous to the health than marijuana could ever be. So, are we to lock up all the irresponsible NDP supporters? ``No,'' says Geddes. ``As with other risky behaviour, we must keep appealing to people's better senses and hope that they will eventually learn from their past mistakes.'' Geddes, in fact, sounds more like a Wyoming Republican than a B.C. pot advocate: ``In this election. I want to strike a blow for individual freedom, self-responsibility and for the virtues of private property and entrepreneurship.'' Ending drug prohibition is a free-market issue, he insists. And he asks why British Columbians would want to support one of the mainstream parties which ``differ with each other only in how they want to control your life.'' Good for Geddes. He may be a bit naive about drugs, but he certainly has the right idea about the need to control the control freaks and rein in the tax-gougers. And his message should strike a chord with those of us who are tired of such other excesses of the nanny state as the federal government's <firearms> registration system. It's a seriously misguided system which, as SFU professor and gun advocate Gary Mauser shows in his latest study, is costing taxpayers hundreds of millions of dollars and draining away valuable police resources. ``Registration is pulling away police officers who would be better used protecting our streets,'' says Mauser, who adds there is no solid evidence that clamping down on gun owners reduces crime. ``We should be registering sex offenders, not duck hunters,'' he quips. A third example of government excess is photo radar and the police's preoccupation with speed enforcement. Indeed, it's interesting that a new study by Britain's free-market Adam Smith Research Institute has found prosecuting drivers for speeding is one of the lowest priorities for most people. Of course, you can see why the cops are addicted to harsh motoring, marijuana and gun-ownership laws. It's far easier to nail docile duck-hunters, drivers and pot-users than it is to catch hard-core criminals. However, as the Marijuana Party hopes to demonstrate in this long-overdue election, there's a limit to the amount of liberty the long-suffering public is willing to forego to achieve the Canadian dream of peace, order and good government. And that's no reefer madness. (Jon Ferry writes here Tuesdays. He can be reached at jferry@istar.ca) ===================END FORWARDED MESSAGE===================