Pubdate: Thu, 08 Jan 2015
Source: National Post (Canada)
Page: A10
Copyright: 2015 Canwest Publishing Inc.
Contact: http://drugsense.org/url/wEtbT4yU
Website: http://www.nationalpost.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/286
Author: Brian Hutchinson

POTENTATES OF POT TAKE ON TRUDEAU

Run At Liberal Nomination Aims To Sign Up Smokers

The old building at 307 West Hastings St. is like a marijuana
superstore, without any 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 inside 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."

Mr. Emery is as cantankerous as ever, directing written and verbal
jabs at anyone whom he considers an enemy of the marijuana freedom and
legalization movement, and to those whom he perceives as threats to
himself and his wife, Jodie. His targets include Stephen Harper, whom
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 Mr. 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 that she won't seek
re-election.

It's hard to tell if Ms. Emery's intentions are a lark, perhaps a
publicity stunt to benefit her and her husband'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, during an interview this week inside her third floor office
at 307 West Hastings. "Some people might say that would be me," Ms.
Emery added with a laugh. "I'm just joking."

A large bong sat on a desk inside 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.

Ms. 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 Mr. 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 Ms. Emery if she would put her name forward as the
Liberal candidate. She thought it over for a couple of months and then
decided she would do it.

Not every Liberal was thrilled. The Emerys are controversial. And Mr.
Emery and Mr. Trudeau have a history, of sorts. In 2009, before he
went to prison, Mr. Emery made a fiery speech attacking Mr. Trudeau,
who was then just an ordinary Liberal MP. Mr. 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," fumed Mr.
Emery, "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 f--king hypocrite."

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

Her husband has mellowed, Ms. Emery 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," she says. "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. Ms. Emery has been door-knocking and
signing up new party members, and running a nomination campaign from
her office at 307 West Hastings, where the walls are festooned with
in-house posters that encourage patrons to join the federal Liberals.
Because, the posters read, "The Liberal Party wants to Legalize Marijuana."

Meanwhile, her husband takes shots at the three other Liberals hoping
to secure the nomination. They include Joanne Griffiths, a local
volunteer and former wife of Arthur Griffiths, the once wealthy, now
down-on-his-luck Vancouver businessman.

Her "entire life has been giving away money and [she] has never had to
struggle a single day in her life," Mr. Emery recently posted on
Facebook. Ms. Griffiths countered that for years she has "worked hard
to help people in need."

To date, none of the four hopefuls have had their nomination papers
approved by party headquarters, and a nomination meeting has not yet
been scheduled. The fix is in, Mr. Emery suggests. He claims that Mr.
Trudeau favours someone other than his wife.

Given everything, that seems plausible.  
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MAP posted-by: Jo-D