Pubdate: Sat, 16 Aug 2014
Source: Windsor Star (CN ON)
Copyright: 2014 The Windsor Star
Contact:  http://www.canada.com/windsorstar/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/501
Author: Karen Selick
Note: Karen Selick is the litigation director for the Canadian 
Constitution Foundation
Page: A7

'PRINCE OF POT': A POTENT FORCE FOR CANADIAN FREEDOM

Why I'm A Fan of Hero Emery, Faults 'N' All

Unlike the "Prince of Pot," I don't use marijuana. I never have, and 
probably never will, even if it were to become legal for recreational 
use. But then, I don't use alcohol either.

Nevertheless, I have been a staunch admirer of Marc Emery's ever 
since I first met him, about 38 years ago, long before he began 
championing pot legalization. Marc has been a powerful force for 
liberty in Canada on several fronts.

For instance, he helped legalize Sunday shopping by operating his 
London, Ont. bookstore seven days a week, back when it was illegal to 
do so. He even went to jail over that issue, after refusing to pay 
his fines. That four-day stint proved to be merely a practice run for 
his later five-year marijuana related imprisonment.

Marc challenged Canada's obscenity laws by selling banned music 
tapes. He then racked up a freedom-of-speech victory by publishing a 
marijuana newsletter at a time when the Criminal Code forbade it. An 
Ontario court eventually struck down that law as contrary to the Charter.

Marc has also contributed to the welfare of his fellow Canadians by 
diligently reporting every penny of income from his marijuana seed 
business - more than $4 million cumulatively over the years - and 
paying federal and provincial income tax on it (at least, if you 
believe that those governments will spend that tax revenue on 
Canadians' welfare, which is questionable. But I digress).

Canada has changed radically since Marc first set out to legalize 
pot. There are now approximately 40,000 legal medical marijuana 
users, with some estimates saying there will be half a million in 10 
years' time.

A survey released last week by the Department of Justice showed that 
70 per cent of Canadians want the law softened, either by 
legalization or decriminalization.

Even the Fraser Institute ( the free-market think-tank whose name is 
usually preceded in media reports by the epithet "right-wing") 
published a report a decade ago describing the benefits of legalizing pot.

Marc plowed all of his seed sale profits into funding the 
legalization movement, keeping nothing for himself except what he 
needed to live on. He made a large donation of seed money (pun 
intended) to help organizers in Colorado. That state is now one of 
two (Washington is the other) that have legalized pot for both 
medicinal and recreational purposes.

Another 21 U.S. states and the District of Columbia allow medical 
marijuana. Four other states have decriminalized it, reducing the 
penalty for possession to fines, rather than a jail sentence and a 
criminal record.

Even John McKay, the former U.S. attorney who prosecuted Marc, has 
changed his mind and now publicly favours legalization.

While Marc didn't do this single-handedly, there is no question he 
was a driving force in the movement. He is at least partly 
responsible for the fact that hundreds of thousands of people across 
North America now have legal access to a medication that helps 
relieve their pain and epileptic seizures.

He can also take credit for keeping hundreds of thousands of people 
out of jail. He has achieved these victories at great personal cost, 
doing several stints in Canadian jails before his most recent U.S. 
imprisonment.

Some have said Marc's no hero, but I disagree. He has shown 
exceptional courage and perseverance. He has made huge personal 
sacrifices. His actions have benefited thousands, if not millions, of people.

But what about the charge by the Globe and Mail's Margaret Wente that 
Marc is "among the most obnoxious jerks in Canadian public life"?

Yup, Marc talks a lot. He talks quickly - too quickly for some people 
to grasp what he is saying. Sometimes he talks when it's really 
somebody else's turn to talk. But where's the rule that says a hero 
has to be perfect? These are minor flaws, all things considered, 
especially since most of what Marc says makes extraordinarily good 
sense, and is something that people urgently need to hear. And I'll 
bet neither Gandhi nor King were perfect, either.
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MAP posted-by: Jay Bergstrom