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The name of the party, CISTA, stands for Cannabis Is Safer Than Alcohol, which seems to set two of the nation's favorite drugs in direct opposition to each other. As the free booze flows, I ask Birch whether CISTA is anti-alcohol. "I used to have a few drinks," he says, "but the data is clear that alcohol is more dangerous than cannabis." His PR guy tries to interject with the citation that heroin actually makes people more healthy if it's pure enough, but Birch looks uncomfortable, sinking into his seat like a toddler being warned off gummy bears. "I didn't know that," he says, and then steers conversation back to cannabis and CISTA's electoral plans."We're looking for 100 candidates," Birch announced in his earlier speech to the congregation, "at the moment, we have about five."
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