Pubdate: Thu, 08 Jan 2015
Source: Vancouver Sun (CN BC)
Page: A7
Copyright: 2015 Postmedia Network Inc.
Contact:  http://www.canada.com/vancouversun/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/477
Author: Brian Hutchinson with files from Peter O'Neil

JODIE EMERY WILL RUN FOR LIBERAL NOD

Wife Of 'Prince of Pot' Marc Emery Doesn't Like Being Called A
One-issue Candidate

The old building is like a marijuana super store, without marijuana
for sale. There's a large retail shop on the ground level that offers
old-school pipes and papers and bongs, and pricey high-tech vaporizers
for the modern, more health-conscious crowd. Upstairs there's a
comfortable, if malodorous, lounge where bring-your-own cannabis
products are openly consumed. Tobacco smoking is not allowed.

Everywhere, there are illustrations and pictures of this town's patron
saint of marijuana, the so-called Prince of Pot, Marc Emery. This is
his joint, and on most days since his release last summer from a U.S.
prison, where he served a five-year sentence for selling marijuana
seeds, he can be found in his store or in the lounge, getting high and
handing out free samples of potent hash oils and what he calls his
"8-bud blend."

Emery is as cantankerous as ever, directing written and verbal jabs at
anyone he considers an enemy of the marijuana freedom and legalization
movement and to those he perceives as threats to himself and his wife,
Jodie. His targets include Stephen Harper, who both Emerys despise.

They have also included Liberal leader Justin Trudeau - which is a
problem for Jodie.

She's a politician. She once ran as a provincial Green party candidate
in B.C. She's now a member of Trudeau's Liberal party and hopes to be
his candidate in the riding of Vancouver East in the coming election.
Vancouver East is NDP territory, long held by MP Libby Davies, who
recently announced she won't seek re-election.

It's hard to tell if her intentions are a lark, perhaps a publicity
stunt to benefit the couple's mini-business empire, or if she's serious.

"What if some radical managed to get a position and ran for the party
and caused a massive headache and caused them to lose the election?"
she asked.

"Some people might say that would be me," she added with a laugh. "I'm
just joking."

A large bong sat on a desk in the office. On another desk lay a back
issue of Cannabis Culture magazine, which the Emerys used to publish.
I picked up the magazine and a sprinkling of medium-grind marijuana
slid from the front cover and fell onto the floor.

Emery, 30, doesn't like being called a one-issue candidate, but
marijuana and marijuana legalization seem the most important things to
her, after her husband. She smokes marijuana recreationally, she
advocates for it, she wants it to be made accessible to every adult in
Canada.

Two years ago, after Trudeau became Liberal leader and declared his
party in favour of marijuana legalization, the Emerys decided they
could endorse the Grits. Last year, a pair of Vancouver East riding
executives asked Emery if she would put her name forward as the
Liberal candidate. She thought it over for a couple of months, then
decided she would do it.

Not every Liberal was thrilled. The Emerys are controversial. And Marc
Emery and Trudeau have a history, of sorts. In 2009, before he went to
prison, Emery made a fiery speech attacking Trudeau, who was then just
a Liberal MP. Trudeau had voted in favour of a Conservative government
bill supporting mandatory minimum sentences for lawbreakers, such as
unlicensed marijuana cultivators.

"(Mr. Trudeau) has smoked with me four or five times," Emery fumed at
the time, "so it really pisses me off when I see Justin Trudeau, who
took big gaggers with me, is in Parliament actually voting for Bill
C-15. What a ... hypocrite."

Trudeau later accused Emery of "flat-out lying" and said he had never
smoked marijuana with him.

Marc Emery has mellowed, his wife claims.

"Since Marc's been out of prison, a lot of people were waiting to see
how outrageous he would be, what kind of crazy statement he would
make, how he would humiliate Trudeau. But a lot of people forget that
prison kind of calms one down and as time goes by, you have a chance
to stop and think and strategize."

The strategy for securing the Vancouver East nomination? Sign up as
many pot smokers as possible.

Meanwhile, prominent veteran Vancouver city Coun. Raymond Louie said
Wednesday he is no longer considering a bid to win the Liberal or New
Democratic Party nomination in Vancouver East, considered one of the
safest NDP seats in the country.

B.C. New Democrat MLA Mable Elmore has already announced her candidacy
while caucus mate Jenny Kwan and former city councillor Ellen
Woodsworth have said they are seriously considering bids. 
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MAP posted-by: Jo-D