Pubdate: Fri, 10 Oct 2014 Source: Vancouver 24hours (CN BC) Copyright: 2014 Vancouver 24 hrs. Contact: http://vancouver.24hrs.ca/letters Website: http://vancouver.24hrs.ca/ Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/3837 Author: Ada Slivinski Page: 5 MEDICAL POT SELLER DERIDES EMERY'S 'PRINCE' CROWN The man who runs Vancouver's marijuana vending machines says Marc Emery's reign as the "Prince of Pot" is over. "'Prince of Pot,' you know what, that's a self-proclaimed title," said Chuck Varabioff, the director of the BC Pain Society. "There's room for other people in the industry who are going to stand up and go about it legally, peacefully, respectfully and try to get it legalized." Varabioff said Emery got what he deserved when he was sent to jail because he flaunted the way he was breaking the law. He also said Emery's comeback after being released from jail hasn't been successful. "They were trying to hold a rally and gather support in some of the parks across Canada and from what I saw there was maybe 50, a hundred, couple hundred people there at best," said Varabioff. Emery said the medical marijuana industry owes a lot to him. "I've never called myself 'The Prince of Pot' ... I got that from CNN and TIME Magazine and The New York Times," he said. "Maybe you should tell him [Varabioff] that I was the person that financed the court challenges that made medical marijuana legal," he said. Regarding Varabioff, Emery - who didn't recognize the name - said, "His opinion, I trust, isn't very common," adding, "I was just selling seeds by mail, he's selling from a vending machine." Emery returned to Canada in August after serving a five-year sentence in a U.S. prison for selling marijuana seeds by mail to American customers. Marijuana dispensaries are illegal in Canada, and Varabioff acknowledges he is breaking the law with his vending machines. - --- MAP posted-by: Matt