Presidential candidate Canak: Legalization of cannabis and recognition of Kosovo

Canak, a strong advocate for bigger autonomy of the northern Serbian province of Vojvodina, told Insajder that he would advocate for Serbia’s recognition of Kosovo and Metohija’s independency, because the government has been using this issue only to mask its own failures.

“The issue of Kosovo is nothing more than patriotic opium. It is exploited so that the citizens would not think of how much money the Government’s Office for Kosovo and Metohija spends. Laws of Serbia do not apply in Kosovo, it is already independent,” said Canak, adding that it is time to face the reality.

He said that Kosovo is not the heart of Serbia, referring to a popular saying in Serbia, claiming that the heart is “the youth who left Serbia.”

“The heart of Serbia is over 300,000 young people who left Serbia. Serbian heart beats in New Zealand, Canada, and other countries they moved to,” claims Canak.

According to him, Serbia is slipping into dictatorship under the rule of the current Prime Minister and presidential candidate Aleksandar Vucic.

“We are still not in a dictatorship, but if nothing changes soon, we might end up in one. One of the reasons for slipping into it lies in the fact that the ruling Serbian Progressive Party (SNS) was founded first, and then they adopted the party’s program. They continued practicing that method. This regime is just a metastasis of the previous one,” he said.

A high crime rate in the northern Serbian province Vojvodina is a consequence of decreasing the autonomy, claims Canak.

“The atmosphere in society is tense, and the struggle for political power gets more brutal each day. In this campaign and for the first time in Serbia’s recent political history, we see attacks on the opposition candidates’ families,” said Canak referring to the statements of the Progressive Party involving Natasa Jeremic.

Natasa Jeremic is a wife of the opposition presidential candidate Vuk Jeremic, whom the ruling party labeled as “the drug overlord of Serbia”.

The leader of LSV also added that his motive for participation in the elections is to increase the turn out on the election day, since a high turnout of voters would decrease the PM Aleksandar Vucic’s chances of winning.

“I was hoping that all of the opposition would gather around one candidate. If that was the case, we could at least expect the second round of the elections, and maybe even a chance to defeat the PM Vucic.

When I realized that there was no chance of having a joint candidate, I joined the presidential race,” said Canak.

Canak said that he would advocate for higher sentences for heroin dealers and smugglers, but he would legalize cannabis because it can be used for medical purposes.

“We see that the medicines containing cannabis are taken out from the positive lists and that people with health conditions have no choice but to illegally grow marijuana”.

He also said that there are no political leaders in Serbia who are ready to talk about painful issues such as Russia, NATO, and Kosovo.

“No one is ready to say that Serbia needs to distance itself from Russia and join NATO. Majority of Serbian politicians are just Russian puppets. It is a political process in which Serbia would become Russian “aircraft carrier” and serve its interests in Central and Western Europe,” Canak said.

He concluded that Serbia’s pact with Russia over the energetics is a” moose around our neck” that leads to loss of sovereignty.

Danica Vucenic