Pubdate: Thu, 12 Oct 2006
Source: Fulcrum, The (U of Ottawa, CN ON Edu)
Copyright: 2006 The Fulcrum
Contact:  http://www.thefulcrum.ca/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/2664
Author: Debby Reis
Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/mjcn.htm (Cannabis - Canada)
Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/decrim.htm (Decrim/Legalization)
Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/walters.htm (Walters, John)

PRINCE OF POT PLANTS THE SEEDS OF ACTIVISM

Marc Emery: Drug Kingpin Or Political Target

VANCOUVER --"THE PROBLEM WITH a lot of young people is that they 
smoke pot first and maybe develop a discipline over time," says Marc 
Emery, who asks me if I want to get high off the giant bong he's 
smoking in his small office below the B.C. Marijuana Party store.

Emery admits that he didn't smoke pot until he was 22--well after he 
developed a discipline for the activism work that has since made him 
a wanted man. At 17, Emery opened City Lights Bookstore in London, 
Ontario. Shortly thereafter, he had run-ins with the law for ignoring 
Ontario's ban on Sunday shopping hours and was reprimanded for 
selling rap group 2 Live Crew's videos--an action that was a 
violation of Canada's censorship laws at the time.

"Plant the seeds of freedom. Overgrow the government," has become a 
catchphrase for Emery. In Cannabis Culture magazine, Emery writes 
that "inherent in that beautiful phrase are so many ideals and 
glories of a co-operative, peaceful society."

It is Emery's political activism concerning marijuana that has 
garnered him international notoriety and the alliterative nickname 
the Prince of Pot.

Starting A Revolution

In the early 90s, Emery encouraged people to plant marijuana in the 
gardens of police officers, politicians, and other authority figures. 
He also began selling publications promoting marijuana use, which 
were then banned in Canada. He explains that he hoped to get arrested 
for doing so--with the intention of bringing the issue to the 
Canadian courts--but found it surprisingly difficult. This was the 
beginning of Emery's mission to have marijuana legalized.

In 1994, Emery moved to Vancouver and opened a new store, Hemp BC. 
Despite the laws against selling pot paraphernalia and publications, 
Emery stood his ground, which led to numerous store raids.

That specific law was overturned in 1995, and that spring, the first 
issue of Cannabis Canada (later renamed Cannabis Culture) was 
released, partially subsidized by Emery through Hemp BC. Today, Emery 
is the magazine's publisher and editor.

Cannabis Culture is just part of the subversive empire of entities 
promoting the legalization of marijuana. Emery is also the proprietor 
of Pot-TV--a website dedicated to videos and articles about pot 
(www.pot-tv.net)--and the current leader of Canada's Marijuana Party.

The most profitable element of the Emery empire was the 
now-out-of-business Marc Emery Direct Seeds--a business set up in the 
B.C. Marijuana Party store to sell pot seeds both in person and via mail.

"The whole idea of the [the Mark Emery Direct Seeds] project was to 
raise millions of dollars and to fund a revolution ... We paid for 
rallies everywhere--in London, Paris. We had posters printed up in 
seven languages for rallies all around the world. We paid for the 
Supreme Court hearing in 2003 that tried to legalize pot. We paid for 
ballot initiatives in Alaska and Arizona, Nevada, Washington, 
D.C.--totally subversive stuff," Emery says.

With the growth of the movement, Emery's seeds of a marijuana 
revolution were blooming, and the American Drug Enforcement Agency 
(DEA) took notice.

Political Motivation

On July 29, 2005, Emery was arrested while in Halifax and faced 
extradition to the U.S. for allegations of trafficking marijuana 
seeds, conspiracy to produce marijuana, and money laundering.

Meanwhile, back in Vancouver, Michelle Rainey and Greg 
Williams--Emery's fellow activists--were also arrested, and the DEA 
conducted a search of the B.C. Marijuana Party bookstore looking for 
business records, seeds, and other incriminating evidence that could 
be used against the trio.

A Seattle jury indicted Emery in May 2005 based on the evidence 
provided by the DEA. Irwin Cotler, Canada's Attorney General, allowed 
the arrest due to the Mutual Legal Assistance Treaty that Canada has 
signed with the States. The treaty aids in law enforcement across the 
border, sharing the burden of gathering information to convict 
criminals and sharing information on suspected criminals.

Although there are numerous other seed vendors in Canada who sell 
their products to U.S. citizens in the same manner as Emery, there 
are overarching political implications of Emery's arrest.

Emery admits to taunting the DEA with his activism efforts.

For example, when John Walters, National Drug Control Policy director 
for the U.S. government, was speaking in Vancouver at the Board of 
Trade in 2002, Emery paid for a table of 10 marijuana activists to be 
present. At the meeting, Walters gave a speech on marijuana.

"Every time he says a lie about marijuana, which is frequently, we 
say, 'Bullshit, liar, jailor, incarcerator', and eventually he cracks 
and gets really upset and he has a terrible meeting. He's humiliated, 
he's pissed off, and he wants to strangle my fucking neck," Emery says.

The Vancouver Police Department was also present at the Board of 
Trade meeting, and Emery claims that it was one month later that they 
began their investigation into his seed business.

There is some speculation around the DEA's investigation on Emery. 
Emery and his supporters believe the DEA's investigation is 
politically motivated and is being used as an attempt to hinder the 
marijuana movement. The statement made by DEA administrator Karen P. 
Tandy in a press release on the day of Emery's arrest attracted 
attention when Tandy stated, "Today's DEA arrest of Marc Scott Emery, 
publisher of Cannabis Culture magazine, and the founder of a 
marijuana legalization group, is a significant blow not only to the 
marijuana trafficking trade in the U.S. and Canada, but also to the 
marijuana legalization movement ... Drug legalization lobbyists now 
have one less pot of money to rely on."

A statement provided by Libby Davies, the NDP MP for Vancouver East, 
argues, "We should recognize that the arrests of these Canadian 
citizens is more related to political pressure on Canada to 
co-operate with the U.S. war on drugs than to any harm that has been 
created by the actions of these individuals."

Out Of Business, Out Of Money

Marc Emery Direct Seeds has been put out of business, as selling 
seeds would violate Emery's bail conditions. As a result, Emery is 
currently relying on donations from supporters to pay for legal fees, 
which are expected to be substantial.

But the BC3 (as Emery, Rainey, and Williams are referred to) are 
asking for help in other ways as well. T-shirts have been made, 
petitions are being passed around, and supporters are being asked to 
contact local politicians, as well as the justice minister of Canada, 
Vic Toews.

The BC3's five-day extradition hearing has been scheduled to begin on 
May 28, 2007.

Movie Deals And Media Coverage

Emery will be able to count on at least one source of income for his 
legal fees. He is currently in talks with an undisclosed movie 
company, which is donating $10,000 to each of his lawyers for 
exclusive access to his life story for two years. The film is set for 
release at the 2008 Sundance Film Festival.

In mid 2007, the CBC will be airing a documentary that is currently 
in production, and Emery will also be appearing in The Serious 
Business of Happiness, an independent film due out later this year. 
In the film, Emery tells the story of his first pot-smoking 
experience to the story's main character, who is looking for guidance in life.

Besides film appearances, Emery has been featured on 60 Minutes, and 
in the Washington Post and the New York Times, among various other 
media sources. Meanwhile, Cannabis Culture will be appearing in 
upcoming episodes of Weeds and Robson Arms. Media coverage and film 
appearances like these add to the prominence of the marijuana 
movement in popular culture.

Lockdown

Emery is optimistic that, even if he is incarcerated, his business 
and the marijuana activist movement will continue.

"If I do a good job before then, then everything should go on as 
normal. Without my classic presence, perhaps, but ... the job of a 
leader is not to create followers, but to create more leaders, and 
secondly to leave things so that people understand what their job is 
and make sure that the right people are behind it."

He expects his ventures--Pot-TV, Cannabis Culture, and the store--to 
continue, and remains optimistic that new entities will form.

"I hope to be still active from jail. I like a good confrontation, so 
if they put me in solitary and I go buggy or something like that then 
maybe people can have protests. Let's hope, anyway."
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MAP posted-by: Beth Wehrman