Lee Harris is not your conventional 79-year old grandfather. The owner of a headshop – Alchemy – on London’s Portobello Road, Harris has just announced that he’ll be running for Mayor of London on a platform of legalising weed.

Harris is the official candidate of CISTA – the “cannabis is safer than alcohol party” – which advocates for cannabis to be legalised in the UK, as it is in some parts of the United States. He’s now their official Mayoral candidate, and will be facing off opponents including Labour’s Sadiq Khan (the favourite to win), and Tory Zac Goldsmith (who won’t legalise weed, but is my secret Tory crush).

A long-standing advocate of drugs policy reform, Harris is originally South African, but left due to the country’s apartheid laws (he was one of the few white members of the African National Congress). He’s also an incredibly nice man, as I found out during the course of my phone interview with him. Dazed caught up with Harris to find out why the 79-year old granddad and father of three is fighting to legalise weed.

Hi Lee! Thanks for talking to me. Can you explain why you’re running to be Mayor?

Lee Harris: Well, I’m standing for Mayor of London because I want to legalise cannabis. I first became interested in this when I went to the first ‘legalise pot rally’ in Hyde Park in the summer of love in 1967. There were 5,000 of us, Allen Ginsberg was there! I went with flowers in my hair and a button moustache and a kaftan and a bag saying ‘no search without a warrant’. And we were all the beautiful people, and we fought to change the laws around weed. And here we are almost fifty years later, and it’s still not legal in the UK.

Is it frustrating that weed still hasn’t been legalised all this time later?

Lee Harris: It’s frustrating because the world has changed and so many countries have legalised cannabis now, especially for medicinal purposes. And it’s been a revelation; they’ve found it has so many healing qualities, from epilepsy to chronic pain. So I think it’s about time it be made legal, at least for personal use.

What would be your first move if you were elected Mayor?

Lee Harris: The first thing would be to make cannabis available as a medicine to people who need it, people with MS and things like that. The second thing would be that I would amend the Misuse of Drugs Act, to make possession of cannabis legal.

Do you regularly smoke weed?

Lee Harris: Well I have smoked cannabis, although I hate to say I’m breaking the law. But I come from South Africa, where many of the laws were very unjust and racist. And so I’m from that tradition of defiance of unjust laws. I’m not into drugs per se, but to me, cannabis is a herb. Still, I’d rather be a law maker, than a law breaker.

As an older person, do you feel like it’s important to have a voice in politics?

Lee Harris: I guess a perfect example is Bernie Sanders in the USA, who was around when the hippies came out and is now running for President. I’m humbled that I have friends all over the world who believe the same thing that I do and I’m able to connect with them online. It’s humbling to be so loved by a younger generation.

What was the response like when you announced you were running?

Lee Harris: I meet people from all walks of life who say they’ll vote for me, so I feel very confident. And more generally, I think there’s a paradigm shift happening in this country and across the world when it comes to legalising cannabis. I’ve even received support from a former police Chief Constable who says he’ll help me. So yes, I do feel hopeful that things will change.

Us too. If you’d like to vote for Lee, the Mayoral Elections will be held on the 5th May.