Cannabis political parties
In 1986 Nick Brash ran for the "Marijuana Party" for the Kiama NSW by-election against ALP heavy-weight Bob "Bobo" Harrison.
Then in 1987 Nick Brash ran in the Heathcote NSW by-election with 13 other candidates including the infamous Rex "Buckets" Jackson.
This campaign was partly funded by the late John Marsden, solicitor and outspoken civil libertarian.
In the 1988 NSW State Election he joined Macciza Macpherson in running for the Legislative Council Soon after, the electoral laws were changed requiring all political parties to prove a membership of 500 enrolled voters, an impossible task for the Marijuana Party.
Legalise Cannabis Australia continues to run in the upper house in South Australian state elections, with their best result being in 1997 when they received 1.7% of the vote, beating relatively popular parties such as the SA Greens and the SA branch of the National Party of Australia.
Leader of the Australian Greens party Adam Bandt has also endorsed an open-minded attitude to recreational use of cannabis.
[2] The Hemp Party was founded in 1993 and has a constitution, which describes an organisation with the aim of endorsing candidates to contest elections to the Federal Parliament of Australia.
[4] In 2013, the Drug Law Reform Party successfully registered with the Australian Electoral Commission, with over 500 members as required.
[6] The Legalise Marijuana Party has applied for registration with the VEC in the lead-up to the 2022 Victorian state election.
In February 2000, St-Maurice launched the Marijuana Party of Canada, which ran 73 candidates in the 2000 federal election.
"This is a great way to take a stand against criminal gangs, decriminalize normal Danes and to secure that there aren't any dangerous chemicals added."
After the incident at Freetown Christiania, where the police destroyed all the stalls, and cleared them of cannabis, the Danish Social Liberal Party have chanced stance on this issue.
[12] In Israel, the Ale Yarok (Green Leaf) party participated in the past six elections and came close to winning a Knesset seat.
A number of individuals including journalist Olaf Tyaransen and Phoenix Park festival organiser Ubi Dwyer have stood in various elections (national, Local and European) as independent candidates on a legalise cannabis platform.
The Irish political party, People Before Profit, support the legalisation of cannabis for medical and general use.
[13] In Kenya the Roots party by Prof. George Wajakoya enacted a bill to legalize marijuana for export, medicinal and recreational purpose.
They have never had any Members of Parliament, but have averaged around 1% of the popular vote - one fifth of what is necessary to gain MPs under New Zealand's proportional representation system.
[16] On 22 September 2009, the political party DnC or Det norske Cannabispartiet was registered in Stavanger by Even Ganja Helland and Sigbjørn Eskeland, both from Jørpeland, Norway.
In Spain, the Partido Cannabis participated in the 2004 Spanish general election, by standing candidates for seats in the Cortes in three provinces, (Valencia, Alicante and Valladolid).
[17][18] Dr. Mario Oriani-Ambrosini, a Member of Parliament in South Africa, he was diagnosed with cancer and subsequently began lobbying for the legalization of medical marijuana.
He died shortly after this but thanks to him and other activists, South Africa seems to be heading in the direction of eventually legalizing cannabis for medical use.
[19][20] In the United Kingdom, the Legalise Cannabis Alliance (LCA), registered as a political party from 1999 to 2006, with Alun Buffry as its leader-for-the-purpose-of-registration-only, fielding candidates in elections to the House of Commons of the Parliament of the United Kingdom and to local government councils.
The party drew inspiration from the performances of Howard Marks and Buster Nolan as independent legalise cannabis candidates in the 1997 general election.
The LCC, Legalise Cannabis Campaign, founded in the late 60s acted as a pressure group throughout the 1970s and 80s and provided a seedbed of support for these later political manifestations.
Their share of the vote ranged from 0.6% to 1.8%, falling significantly from its previous levels, presumably because reclassification of cannabis had made the case for legalisation less pressing.
In the 2015 General Election they campaigned for a Royal Commission to review the UK's drug laws relating to cannabis.
[27] The Youth International Party, formed in 1967 to advance the counterculture of the 1960s, often ran campaigns for public offices.
