Pubdate: Mon, 28 Oct 2013
Source: Province, The (CN BC)
Copyright: 2013 Postmedia Network Inc.
Contact: http://www2.canada.com/theprovince/letters.html
Website: http://www.theprovince.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/476
Author: Cheryl Chan

'PRINCE OF POT' FANS TAKE THEIR FIGHT TO OTTAWA

Supporters of B.C.'s "Prince of Pot" are taking their campaign to 
bring Marc Emery home to Parliament Hill.

Jodie Emery will hold a news conference Tuesday in Ottawa with 
members of opposition parties to appeal for her husband's return to Canada.

"We are going to be asking the Canadian government to transfer Marc 
home," said Jodie, a pot activist in her own right.

"The U.S. government has already said he is able to return home ... 
This is a question of the value of Canadian citizenship ... "

Lending their support to the campaign are NDP deputy leader Libby 
Davies, Green MP Elizabeth May and Liberal public safety critic Wayne 
Easter, who are all expected to attend the news conference.

Emery is serving a five-year prison term for selling marijuana seeds 
to U.S. customers from his downtown Vancouver hemp shop.

The U.S. denied Emery's request for a transfer to a Canadian prison 
in 2011, but gave the green light in July. Ottawa has given no 
indication whether it will allow Emery back into the country to serve 
the rest of his jail term.

Jodie said her husband will be eligible for early release in July 2014.

"Either way, the U.S. will be kicking him out," she said.

Emery's supporters have already mounted a phone and letter-writing 
campaign directed at federal Public Safety Minister Steven Blaney, 
but plan to ramp up the blitz Tuesday.

Pot advocates in B.C. are in the middle of a 90-day campaign to 
collect signatures for a petition that ultimately could lead to 
decriminalization of marijuana in the province.

Jodie believes Emery's exile in the U.S. has been working in favour 
of the B.C. government.

"They are able to benefit from the lack of Marc's activism," she 
said. "It works to the government's advantage at this point to keep 
him quiet and far away in Mississippi."

However, she said the aim of Tuesday's news conference will just be 
to get her husband back on home soil.
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