Pubdate: Tue, 08 Jul 2014
Source: Vancouver Sun (CN BC)
Copyright: 2014 Postmedia Network Inc.
Contact:  http://www.canada.com/vancouversun/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/477
Author: Tamsyn Burgmann
Page: A4
Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/find?196 (Emery, Marc)

CANADA'S ' PRINCE OF POT' TO BE FREED BY U. S. AFTER FIVE YEARS

When the poster child for marijuana legalization is released from a 
U. S. prison later this week, he'll be re-entering a world where many 
of his ideas have taken root and in some places have sprouted right up.

Marc Emery, Canada's self-styled "Prince of Pot," concludes a five 
year sentence on Wednesday and will emerge into a lucrative marijuana 
landscape, where two U. S. states are now issuing recreational pot 
licences, medical growers are reaping profits and investors aren't 
hedging on potential opportunities.

The 56- year-old Vancouver resident was extradited to Seattle in May 
2010, when he pleaded guilty to selling marijuana seeds from Canada 
to American customers before serving his time in several U. S. 
corrections' facilities.

When he was first arrested almost a decade ago, the Drug Enforcement 
Agency heralded his seizure as a "significant blow" to the 
legalization movement.

On Monday, Washington state distributed for the first time licences 
to 24 shopkeepers who will hawk legal marijuana, while New York 
simultaneously became the 23rd U. S. state to authorize pot as 
medicinal treatment.

Emery started selling pot seeds in 1994 to raise money to support 
activist groups, lobbyists, court cases and ballot initiatives.

In the years leading up to his arrest and extradition an entire "Free 
Marc Emery" movement replete with posters and T- shirts sprang up. 
However, it could still be weeks before the high profile activist's 
diverse contingent of followers can finally celebrate his release.

The Canadian man will be transported on Thursday to a private 
deportation facility in Louisiana, where paperwork must be completed 
and a flight booked to Detroit. His estimated return is between 
August 10 and 25.

His wife Jodie Emery said she'll encourage a crowd to greet him in 
Windsor and then Toronto, before the pair visits his siblings in 
London and Newmarket, Ont. They may even spend a weekend alone.

But all the while, they'll be plotting their next moves because the 
laws in Canada still lag far behind the United States, Jodie Emery 
said. Recreational marijuana remains illegal.

In the works is a 30-city, cross-Canada advocacy tour, as well as 
speaking engagements and meetings with officials in Spain, Austria, 
Ireland and Uruguay.
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MAP posted-by: Jay Bergstrom