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The Freedom Party of Manitoba, founded as the Libertarian Party of Manitoba, is a provincial political party in Manitoba, Canada, advocating cannabis legalization.
The party was created in the mid-1980s and formally changed its name in early 2005, and in 2007 became the Freedom Party of Manitoba. The LPM ran four candidates in the provincial election of 1986, one fewer than was required for official party certification. It achieved ballot status in 1988 with six candidates, and ran five in 1990. The LPM ran six candidates in 1995, six again in 1999 and five in 2003. It never came close to electing a member to the legislature, and Buors has acknowledged the LPM is a marginal political force in the province. Like other "fringe parties", the LPM claims to present ideas to the public which are ignored by mainstream organizations.
The party appears to have been founded by Clancy Smith, who is still an active member. Dennis Rice became party leader at some point in the early 1990s, and stepped down two days after the 2003 election was called. Chris Buors was chosen without opposition as Rice's replacement, and led the party into the election. Like most right-libertarian parties, the LPM advocated the view that government activities which affect the lives of citizens (whether in social or economic matters) be kept to a minimum.
Buors, who led the party in the 2003 election, is a marijuana-rights activist and has also run as a candidate for the Marijuana Party of Canada. Buors is known as an activist in Canada's cannabis movement. In 2005, he legally changed the party's name to the Manitoba Marijuana Party, on the advice and with the support of cannabis activist Marc Emery.
In early February 2007, James Cotton, expressed interest in changing the Party name and becoming Party Leader. All the proper forms for Elections Manitoba were gathered, signed, sealed and delivered and on February 27, 2007 it became the Freedom Party. It supports the full legalization of drugs, and has also called for the restriction of state powers on other issues. The party did not nominate candidates for the 2007 provincial election. James Cotton was the party leader while past leader Buors served as party president.
In May 2007, the Freedom Party of Manitoba failed to field the five candidates needed in Manitoba for a provincial party to remain registered in that province. There have since been reports that the party has disbanded.
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Ale Yarok, is a liberal political party in Israel best known for its ideology of legalizing cannabis. To date, it has had no representation in the Knesset. Ale Yarok has not yet met the electoral threshold for inclusion in any of the elections that they have contested.
James Polin Gray is an American jurist and writer. He was the presiding judge of the Superior Court of Orange County, California. Gray was the 2012 Libertarian Party vice presidential nominee, as well as the party's 2004 candidate for the United States Senate in California. He is the author of multiple books and a play, and is an outspoken critic of American drug laws.
The Marijuana Party is a Canadian federal political party, whose agenda focuses on issues related to cannabis in Canada. Apart from this one issue, the party has no other official policies, meaning party candidates are free to express any views on all other political issues. Passage of the Cannabis Act in June 2018 legalized cannabis on 17 October 2018. However, the party is critical of some of the laws relating to cannabis since legalization and wants to see them changed or reformed. It also seeks to represent and advocate for the rights of cannabis consumers, growers, and small cannabis based businesses.
The Freedom Party of Ontario is a provincial political party in Ontario, Canada. It was founded on January 1, 1984, in London, Ontario by Robert Metz and Marc Emery. The Freedom Party has fielded candidates in every provincial election since 1985, and in several by-elections. It has also participated in numerous public policy debates, often on contentious social issues.
The Ontario Libertarian Party is a minor libertarian party in the Canadian province of Ontario. Founded in 1975 by Bruce Evoy and Vince Miller, the party was inspired by the 1972 formation of the United States Libertarian Party. The party is guided by a charter of principles, and its own Ontario charter of rights and freedoms.
Marc Scott Emery is a Canadian cannabis rights activist, entrepreneur and politician. Often described as the "Prince of Pot", Emery has been a notable advocate of international cannabis policy reform, and has been active in multiple Canadian political parties at the provincial and federal levels. Emery has been jailed several times for his cannabis activism.
The British Columbia Marijuana Party was a minor political party in the Canadian province of British Columbia that advocated the legalisation of cannabis.
The Grassroots–Legalize Cannabis Party (G–LC) is a political third party in the U.S. state of Minnesota created by Oliver Steinberg in 2014 to oppose cannabis prohibition. G–LC is a democratic socialist party with a background branching from the Grassroots Party established in 1986.
The Freedom Party of Ontario is a political party in Ontario, Canada.
Blair Timmothy Longley is a Canadian politician, activist, and leader of the Marijuana Party.
The British Columbia Libertarian Party is a libertarian party in British Columbia, Canada, that nominated its first candidates in the 1986 provincial election. There has never been a Libertarian elected to the Legislative Assembly of British Columbia, and they have been termed a fringe party. In the 2020 British Columbia general election the party fielded 25 candidates and received 8,360 votes, or 0.4% of the popular vote. Keith Macintyre received 2.6% of votes in Penticton. In 2024, the party fielded only four candidates.
The U.S. Marijuana Party is a cannabis political party in the United States founded in 2002 by Loretta Nall specifically to end the war on drugs and to legalize cannabis. Their policies also include other socially libertarian positions. U.S. Marijuana Party candidates in Vermont have run campaigns as recently as 2016. The party has had local chapters in several other states, and has been affiliated with international cannabis political parties.
The Saskatchewan Marijuana Party was a provincial political party based in Saskatchewan, Canada. The party contested the 2007 Saskatchewan general election and failed to win any seats, securing less than one percent of the vote.
Jodie Emery is a Canadian cannabis rights activist and politician. She is the estranged spouse of fellow activist Marc Emery. Until the business was shut down by police, the couple were co-owners of Cannabis Culture, a business that franchised pot dispensaries, later deemed to be illegal. They had obtained the cannabis from illegal sources, according to Crown prosecutors. They are the former operators and owners of Cannabis Culture magazine and Pot TV.
Cannabis political parties are generally single-issue parties that exist to oppose the laws against cannabis.
Marc-Boris St-Maurice is an activist, politician and Canadian musician, who has campaigned for many years for the legalization of cannabis, and to facilitate access to the drug for health reasons. He lives in Montreal, Quebec.
The Grassroots Party was a political third party in the United States established in 1986 to oppose drug prohibition. The party shared many of the progressive values of the Farmer–Labor Party but with an emphasis on cannabis/hemp legalization issues, and the organization traced their roots to the Youth International Party of the 1960s.
The Cannabis Act is a law which legalized recreational cannabis use in Canada in combination with its companion legislation Bill C-46, An Act to Amend the Criminal Code. The law is a milestone in the legal history of cannabis in Canada, alongside the 1923 prohibition.
Thomas Christopher Wright is an American businessman, cannabis rights and free speech activist, and frequent candidate for public office. Wright, who co-founded the Grassroots Party in 1986, owns a computer repair shop in Bloomington, Minnesota.
Cannabis political parties of Minnesota include the Grassroots—Legalize Cannabis Party, the Independence Party, and the Legal Marijuana Now! Party. Also, both the Libertarian Party and the Green Party advocate for the legalization of marijuana.
