Pubdate: Wed, 09 Jul 2014
Source: North Shore News (CN BC)
Copyright: 2014 North Shore News
Contact:  http://www.nsnews.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/311

GREENER PASTURES
Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/find?196 (Emery, Marc)

In 2010, marijuana legalization activist Marc Emery was handed a 
five-year jail sentence in a Seattle courtroom for selling seeds that 
grow into the cannabis plant. He's due for release this week and 
today, in the same city where he was led away in cuffs, you can walk 
into a brand new storefront, slap down a $20 bill and walk out with a 
gram of perfectly legal recreational marijuana.

In his campaign, Emery has gone from the butt of jokes to martyr and 
now the father of a movement that has picked up some powerful allies 
in academia, economics, medicine, law and politics.

West Vancouver's former police chief Kash Heed isn't just on board 
with legalization, he's now working as a consultant in the legal 
commercial grow-op business.

The leader of the federal Opposition party currently sitting at the 
top of the polls wants to see pot legalized and taxed.

In Washington, the state gets 25 per cent at the production, 
processing and retail level.

Sadly, some things have not changed. Emery will also be coming to 
home to Vancouver at the close of the infamous Surrey Six trial - a 
poignant reminder about the lengths that gangs are willing to go to 
in order to control the drug trade.

And some things have gotten worse as our own marijuana laws are 
tougher than ever, including mandatory minimum jail sentences for 
people caught growing as few as six personal plants.

It's enough to make your head spin.
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MAP posted-by: Jay Bergstrom