Pubdate: Wed, 02 Jul 2014
Source: Metro (Vancouver, CN BC)
Copyright: 2014 Metro Canada
Contact:  http://www.metronews.ca/vancouver
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/3775
Author: Matt Kieltyka
Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/find?196 (Emery, Marc)

PRINCE OF POT TO EMERGE INTO A CHANGED WORLD

Release From Prison. Activist Marc Emery to See Greater Acceptance 
for Cannabis Culture

For Jodie Emery, this July has been four years in the making.

That's because her husband, marijuana activist Marc "Prince of Pot" 
Emery, will officially be a free man July 9 after serving 1,590 days 
in U.S. custody for selling seeds online.

And although Marc Emery will remain in custody as he is processed for 
deportation - likely into August - reality is finally sinking in for his wife.

"When Marc was first sent away I cried for weeks, but for three years 
after I didn't cry," she said. "I admit I've cried recently."

When Emery does arrive home, it'll be to a different culture than the 
one he left.

The Prince of Pot's drive for legalization has taken hold in 
Washington State and Colorado south of the border, while enterprises 
are seeking to cash in on a push for decimalization in Canada.

"We'll be the only ones not selling seeds," Jodie Emery laughed. 
"Everything has changed so much, a lot of it has been down to his 
work. It's exciting. There's a medical marijuana dispensary down the 
block from our house, and many more that we will have to walk by every day."

The prisoner is bracing for all kinds of change.

"I also haven't had a cell phone since a judge barred me from having 
one as part of my bizarre bail conditions in August 2005, so for the 
past nine years I have not owned a phone," he wrote Monday in his 
final blog post from a U.S. federal prison. "I have never texted in my life!"

Upon his release in Ontario, Emery plans to visit family and make 
several appearances and interviews there before returning.

He writes that he'll get settled in at work at his Cannabis Culture 
store in Vancouver and resume "the unfinished battle to finish off 
marijuana prohibition with renewed vigour."

Jodie, meanwhile, has remained politically active and has been touted 
as a possible Liberal candidate in the next federal election.
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MAP posted-by: Jay Bergstrom