The British Columbia Marijuana Party, a political party in the Canadian province of British Columbia, was the fifth most successful in the 2001 provincial election taking over 3% of the popular vote.

The BCMP was formed following the 2000 federal election. Marc Emery, the founder and current president of the party, began his quest to form the party the day after the 2000 vote and the organization managed to field candidates in all of the provinces 79 ridings in the election that came six months later.

To gain credibility, the Marijuana Party named Brian Taylor as its leader. Taylor had been the mayor of Grand Forks . Despite being from small town, having a leader with some political experience, they hoped, would dispel dismissal as a bunch of pot heads .

Despite attempts to gain credibility, the Marijuana Party was excluded from the leaders' debate, while the Green Party and Unity Party were included. The Marijunana Party argued that this was unfair as they were running a full slate of candidates, a feat matched only by the leading Liberals and governing New Democrats, and were ahead of, or tied with, Unity in most polls.

The party's current leader is Marc Emery, who ran in the 2001 election, Emery remains as president and chief organizer despite having just been released from a federal prison for violation of marijuana laws.

See also

• Marijuana Party of Canada

External link

• BC Marijuana Party