Pubdate: Sat, 16 Sep 2006
Source: Montreal Gazette (CN QU)
Copyright: 2006 The Gazette, a division of Southam Inc.
Contact:  http://www.canada.com/montreal/montrealgazette/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/274
Author: Maxine Mendelssohn, Freelance
Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/mjcn.htm (Cannabis - Canada)
Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/find?208 (Environmental Issues)

WEEDING OUT WHAT'S BAD FOR THE PLANET

Name: Dylan Perceval-Maxwell, owner of Je L'ai, 159 Duluth Ave. E., 
514-284-5393.

How would you describe your store?

We sell hemp products and ecologically sound cannabis-related items.

Can you explain the name 'Je L'ai'?

It means "I got it." But if you pronounce it a little differently it 
sounds like "'gele," which means stoned or frozen in French. 
Actually, Rupert Bottenberg, a local journalist, came up with the 
name and he was nice enough to let me use it. It's also a common 
phrase, so it doesn't arouse suspicion when it appears on a 
credit-card receipt.

Why would it arouse suspicion on a credit-card receipt?

Well, if the store was called Cannabis Emporium or something it could 
offend other people who might see the credit-card statement.

Is there a stigma tied to your store? Do people duck in wearing 
trench coats like men rushing into strip clubs on their lunch breaks?

Not at all. We sell all sorts of things and even if we sold just 
pipes it wouldn't be an issue. I think it was more controversial when 
we first opened 10 years ago. No one was selling pipes back then. Now 
they're everywhere. I look at it like political and social activism.

Speaking of political activism, you ran in the 2006 federal election 
for the Green Party of Canada in the Laurier-Sainte-Marie riding 
against Gilles Duceppe. Did you run on a marijuana legalization platform?

First of all, Duceppe won with over 50 per cent of the vote, but I 
got nearly nine per cent. My platform was about taxing things that 
were bad for the environment and removing taxes on good things like 
services and environmentally friendly products. Taxes are such a huge 
part of a small-business owner's life. I literally spend one out of 
every five days dealing with tax issues. Everything from inventory to 
payroll is a tax issue. I wouldn't even have a computer if it wasn't for taxes.

OK, but what about legalization?

Legalization is an important issue for me, but the environment is 
more important. The air we breathe and the weather we feel every day 
is more important. But when people vote for the Green Party they know 
they're voting for legalization. I should add that as long as people 
get out and vote, I'm happy. That's my main concern; I want people to 
send a message with their vote.

Why did you open your store?

I started selling "Je L'ai" T-shirts at the tam-tam on Mount Royal 
and eventually opened this store in 1996. I was studying climate 
change at McGill at the time. I'd been to Thailand and seen some hemp 
products there. I really wanted to influence people's opinions about 
climate change and realized I could do a better job by giving people 
ecological options instead of doing research. This way I feel like 
I'm physically doing something good by selling organic and 
pesticide-free products.

An Internet search for your store brought up a link to the site 
www.worklessparty.org, where they talk about "the church of pointless 
consumerism." It's something they call "a sarcastic reflection on the 
gluttony of modern day consumerism." Do you think we might be 
inadvertent followers?

Yes. I personally don't buy anything new. I sell this sticker, 
"boycott everything," which is sort of a contradiction because of 
what I do, but I have a sense of humour about it. I suggest people 
start by buying less and see how they feel about it.

Do people come in asking to buy marijuana?

Every day. I always say there's no harm in asking. But even if I knew 
where to send them to find it, I couldn't. But I do add that it can 
be found easily enough in any park.

That's so true. Do you find that marijuana culture in Montreal is 
more laid-back than in the States?

We don't have stereotypical dreadlocked stoners here. I think the 
average Montrealer gets stoned a couple of times a year and it's not 
a big deal. It's part of the culture. It's like if I eat doughnuts 
once in a while, it doesn't make me exclusively a doughnut eater. In 
any case, it's not as bad as in the States; I mean there's a war on 
drugs there.

What do you think of the American gateway drug theory? The one that 
says that marijuana is a gateway to harder drugs.

Most people who do heroine like rock music; it doesn't mean that rock 
music is a gateway to heroin. The gateway theory is total bulls--t. 
People who do hard drugs are people who like to take risks. Marijuana 
is not a gateway to crack or anything else. The U.S. government has 
spent billions on advertising to convince people that it is. In the 
1930s, the government was saying that pot made users violent, which 
couldn't be less true. I think the only time marijuana kills is if a 
bale of it falls on someone and crushes them.

What do you say to people who think marijuana should be kept illegal?

One-third of Canadians have smoked marijuana in their lives. If you 
think marijuana should be illegal you're saying that a third of all 
Canadians should have criminal records. There are many problems with 
keeping it illegal, but one of the worst in my eyes is that it forces 
it into ghettos and into the hands of hard-drug dealers. Those are 
the types who might say, "You want some crack with that?" to someone 
buying marijuana. Most people will say no, but it's a temptation that 
wouldn't be there if it was legal.

Do you know marijuana laws well? There's a lot of conflicting 
information out there.

It's definitely confusing for people. For about four months when the 
Liberals were in power it was legal because the provincial high 
courts declared the whole cannabis law to be invalid. If that motion 
had become law, the police would issue a ticket rather than arresting 
you and dragging you into court. Almost all the urban cases get 
thrown out anyway. It's more economically viable for the government 
to issue tickets. And it would unclog the courts to get all these 
minor marijuana possession charges out of the way.

That sounds like it makes sense. So what went wrong?

Basically things took long. It was controversial and then the 
Liberals lost the election, so that was the end of that. If Martin 
had stayed in power, I think the law would have gone through.

What's the most popular item you sell?

I think in sheer numbers it would be rolling papers. And the organic 
hemp hand soap is popular. Regular soap is made from oil pellets that 
go into your skin and most soap they call "natural" isn't really at 
all. My soap is the real thing and it's made in Vermont.

How did you find a supplier who could live up to your lofty 
ecological standards?

Well, I run my car on vegetable oil and I happened to run out of it 
in Vermont a while back. So I stopped at this place and they filled 
my tank with vegetable oil because that's what they use to make their 
soap. Then we became business partners.

What's the most popular misconception about your store?

I think people are surprised that we actually sell nice clothes made 
from hemp. It looks like any other material, even like cotton. We 
also sell clothing made out of coconut and bamboo fibre.

Is it just hippy clothing or do you have trendy stuff?

It's an eclectic style. The designs are a little retro. Big fashion 
people like Stella McCartney are working with hemp now; it's a great 
material. We have everything from a $10 tank top to a $300 hemp fur jacket.

Have you ever been in trouble with the law?

Never.

What's your relationship with local police?

It's good. Some of them are customers. When we got robbed they were 
really helpful. There's no animosity.

Isn't it strange to sell marijuana paraphernalia when marijuana isn't legal?

We don't sell marijuana paraphernalia; we sell pipes to smoke 
anything legal. That's the bottom line.

What legal herb can you smoke in these pipes?

Different herbs like colt's foot and salvia, which we sell here. It's 
a relaxing activity for some people, just like smoking a cigarette.

What's the most expensive thing in store?

We have a $650 vaporizer.

What's a vaporizer?

It's an electronic thing that basically takes the smoke and tar out 
of smoking. You have to plug it in, put in tobacco and fill the bag 
with flavoured air and basically just inhale the mist. It tastes good.

Do you sell seeds for marijuana plants?

We only sell the kind you can eat. They've been sterilized so they 
can't grow. They're a great source of Omega 3, 6 and 9 proteins. 
Eating them won't make you stoned because there's no THC in the seed; 
it's in the flower. The THC is what gets people stoned when they smoke.

What's the most common question people ask?

People often ask if pot is legal. It's not. But it's really a grey 
area. If I ever got arrested I'd take it to the Supreme Court.
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MAP posted-by: Jay Bergstrom