Congratulations Lucas and Taylor
On Saturday, November 15th, municipalities across British Columbia held elections. Vancouver Island Compassion Society Director Philippe Lucas was elected to City Council in Victoria, the capital of British Columbia, for a three-year term. Brian Taylor, the first leader of the BC Marijuana Party in 2001, was elected Mayor of Grand Forks, BC. Congratulations to these two progressive gentlemen, and we wish them well in the next three years!
Philippe Lucas received 7,042 votes, and won the sixth of eight council seats in a race between 36 people. The Mayor of Victoria acknowledged that Philippe will push harm reduction and other legislation to reduce the harms of cannabis prohibition.

Philippe has been challenging the medical marijuana access regulations in court in a case handled by lawyer Kirk Tousaw, and is also a Green Party activist responsible for the BC provincial Green Party position on marijuana and substance abuse, found here.

The British Columbia Marijuana Party (BCMP) leader in the 2001 BC election campaign, Brian Taylor, was elected Mayor of Grand Forks, BC. Taylor is reprising his first stint from 1997 to 1999 when he was first elected Mayor of this border community in the Thompson valley.

Brian Taylor campaigned in the legendary 2001 BCMP campaign, touring the entire province in what was dubbed the Cannabus -- and the very same one used as the campaign bus for Richard Nixon (1968) and Ronald Reagan (1984), replete with plaques from the DEA and FBI.

In that 2001 BC election, the BCMP received 3.4% of the vote (54,000 votes) and ran candidates in all 79 ridings. After the 2001 BC election, Taylor was publisher of the magazine Cannabis Health from 2002 to 2005, putting out 19 issues in that time.

Cannabis Culture and I send congratulations to both Philippe Lucas and Brian Taylor!