Pubdate: Thu, 10 Jul 2014
Source: Globe and Mail (Canada)
Copyright: 2014 The Globe and Mail Company
Contact:  http://www.theglobeandmail.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/168
Author: Andrea Woo
Page: S1

CALENDAR FILLING UP FAST FOR 'PRINCE OF POT' AFTER PRISON RELEASE

An outspoken Canadian marijuana activist jailed for selling seeds to
American customers has completed his sentence in a Mississippi prison.

After 1,590 days behind bars, Marc Emery was processed for release
from Yazoo City Medium, a medium-security federal prison, on Wednesday
morning.

On Thursday morning, he is scheduled to be taken to LaSalle Detention
Facility in Jena, La., where he is expected to spend anywhere from a
few days to several weeks before being taken to the Detroit Windsor
border, according to his wife, Jodie Emery.

Mr. Emery believes he will set foot on Canadian soil some time in
mid-August, though his wife is hoping for either July 23 - the
couple's eight-year anniversary - or July 29, the anniversary of the
day nine years ago when Vancouver police, acting on American charges,
raided Mr. Emery's Cannabis Culture headquarters on West Hastings
Street. At the same time, Mr. Emery was arrested in Halifax as he
prepared to speak at a medical-marijuana rally.

In Windsor, the couple is expected to speak briefly with media and
then travel on to Toronto, where they will meet with supporters and
see family.

"After spending five days out there, I will return with Jodie to
Vancouver," Mr. Emery wrote this week in his final blog post from
prison, "have a few public events and private parties, get settled in
at work in our new Cannabis Culture store, and marvel at all the
changes in Vancouver - including hundreds of new buildings, 35
dispensaries, years of developments at Marc & Jodie Emery's Cannabis
Culture store and more."

Activists and political organizations have already booked the couple
for speaking engagements in Spain, Ireland and Vienna this year, Ms.
Emery said.

There is also talk of a 30 city pro-marijuana rally - not unlike Mr.
Emery's 30-city farewell tour in 2009 - and campaigning for the
Liberal Party of Canada and Leader Justin Trudeau, who has freely
expressed his support for the legalization of marijuana.

Ms. Emery, who is also being courted by the party, calls it an
exciting time of change in Canada.

"After years of educating himself, looking at the science and facts
and listening to public opinion, Trudeau has changed his position and
[now] supports legalization," she said. "For us, that's a wonderful
sign of true leadership: changing ideas based on science and public
policy. =C2=85 For us, the benefit is too great to ignore."

Much has changed since Canada's "Prince of Pot" began his five-year
sentence, perhaps most notably the legalization of recreational
marijuana use in two American states. Tuesday, the first day of legal
marijuana sales in Washington State, saw pot enthusiasts lining up
down city blocks.

"It's ironic that Emery is being released at the same time as
Washington opens their first legal cannabis shops," said Dana Larsen,
former Cannabis Culture magazine editor and current spokesman for
Sensible BC in a statement. "Marc's life work has been dedicated to
this cause and we are really anxious to get him back on Canadian soil
to continue the fight."

On the day of Mr. Emery's arrest, Karen Tandy, then head of the DEA,
called it "a significant blow not only to the marijuana-trafficking
trade in the U.S. and Canada, but also to the marijuana-legalization
movement."

In 2012, John McKay, the district attorney who prosecuted Mr. Emery,
spoke at a news conference organized by Stop the Violence BC to come
out in favour of the regulation and taxation of marijuana.

"I want to say this just as clearly and as forthrightly as I can," he
said at the time. "Marijuana prohibition - criminal prohibition of
marijuana - is a complete failure."
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