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West Vancouver-Sunshine Coast-Sea to Sky Country NDP candidate Dana Larsen quit the election race Wednesday over his involvement in a company that has sold coca plants and the release of videos showing him using drugs and driving.
The footage, broadcast on CBC Wednesday evening, showed the 37-year-old lighting up a mouthful of joints, dropping LSD, apparently doing another drug called DMT and then getting behind the wheel.
"We finished out psychedelic voyaging for the evening and now we're just driving home smoking our very last joint," Larsen says, addressing the camera.
The clips had originally been released on pot-tv.net, a website founded by marijuana activist Marc Emery.
The release of the clips was accompanied by revelations that Larsen had helped found and manage the Vancouver Seed Bank, a store on Hastings Street that sells a number of banned plants. The store's site advertises cannabis seeds, opium poppy seeds and live peyote cacti. It has also sold coca plant seedlings.
"I'm not ashamed of what I've done or what I do but I didn't want to be a distraction to the federal campaign," said Larsen in an interview with the North Shore News. "I didn't want the Conservative spin machine to take these things and make them seem a lot worse than they are."
"I thought it was best for the team for me to take a hit and step down," he added.
NDP leader Jack Layton said Wednesday he agreed with the move.
"He's obviously taken the decision that he's not a suitable candidate and we've accepted that decision of our B.C. teams and of the candidate himself," said Layton in an interview with other media.
Larsen, a co-founder of the B.C. Marijuana Party, former editor of Cannibis Culture Magazine and author of a parody book called Hairy Pothead, said he did not believe the party was unaware of his involvement with drugs.
"I don't think that anybody actually went through and watched every video I made for pot-tv . . . but certainly my history as a marijuana activist is well known," he said. "I am the former leader of the B.C. Marijuana Party, so it shouldn't be a big surprise to people that I use marijuana."
While the video and other information were already in the public domain, Larsen believes it was political opponents who were behind their release to the media.
The Globe and Mail called him Wednesday afternoon to ask about the coca seedlings, and CBC called just a few minutes later to inquire about the videos.
"It seemed a little orchestrated," said Larsen.
But whether or not the revelations will hurt the NDP's chances remains unclear, he said. "If it becomes about the issues (of legalization and regulation) then I think it won't hurt the party," said Larsen. "But if people, from the out-of-context clips they see on the news, . . . see me as an irresponsible person in some way, I think that might reflect poorly on the party."
While Larsen pointed out that the videos were eight or more years old and that he has not been involved with the seed bank for a year, he refused to condemn either.
"I'm proud of that work," he said. "Talking about these issues . . . is important."
He did note, however, that he does not advocate driving while high.
As for the store's coca plants, turning them into cocaine would be "virtually impossible," said Larsen. They were sold primarily for their health benefits.
"I believe strongly in the use of plants and herbal medicines," he said.
"Part of my work is to try to show people that what we call the War on Drugs is really a war on plants."
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