NDP candidate quits after drug allegations

By Sean Patrick Sullivan, THE CANADIAN PRESS

VANCOUVER - It appears being the founder of a store that sells seeds used to make illegal drugs is a no-no for federal election candidates. The New Democratic candidate for West Vancouver-Sunshine Coast has resigned after a newspaper questioned the party about his involvement with a Vancouver store that once sold seeds for coca plants, which contain the alkaloids used to produce cocaine.Dana Larsen, founder of the Vancouver Seed Bank and past Marijuana party candidate, said he resigned following a discussion with NDP officials Wednesday."I didn't want this to distract from the larger issues of the campaign. Since it seemed to be something people would be focusing on, I decided to submit my resignation," he said in an interview.

Campaigning in Ontario, NDP Leader Jack Layton couldn't explain why the party didn't vet the candidate more thoroughly."I don't know a lot of the details of what's gone on there," he said. "But he's obviously taken the decision that he's not a suitable candidate and we've accepted that decision of our B.C. team and of the candidate himself."

Larsen was a candidate for the federal Marijuana party in 2000 and a founding member of the B.C. Marijuana party. He opened the Vancouver Seed Bank in May 2006.He's also a founding editor of Cannabis Culture Magazine and the author of the Pot Puzzle Fun Book and the novel Hairy Pothead and the Marijuana Stone.

Also see Province Story of Sept 17.