Pubdate: Fri, 27 May 2016
Source: Toronto Sun (CN ON)
Page: 5
Copyright: 2016 Canoe Limited Partnership
Contact: http://www.torontosun.com/letter-to-editor
Website: http://torontosun.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/457
Author: Shawn Jeffords

IT'S 'UNFATHOMABLE'

Prince Of Pot On Mayor's Crackdown

Canada's "Prince of Pot" Marc Emery says Mayor John Tory will pay a
political price for pushing for a citywide crackdown on marijuana
dispensaries.

The Toronto Sun spoke with Emery Thursday hours after police raided
dozens of dispensaries, seizing weed and shuttering many of the
establishments.

Here's what he had to say about the crackdown, the dispensaries
themselves and Mayor Tory's political future:

What is your reaction to this crackdown?

"It's unfathomable because marijuana is a very safe substance. These
dispensaries meet the demand of citizens who are there voting with
their dollars and their feet to buy. There's no harm going on, there's
no coercion."

Do you think the dispensaries are selling marijuana in an appropriate
way and it's safe?

"Are the marijuana consumers complaining? The only people who are
relevant in this whole discussion are not the people who don't smoke
marijuana, are not the police ... the only relevant relationship is
between the buyer and the seller. Clearly, the buyers think (the
dispensaries) are doing an awesome thing. The sellers are happy to
give the buyers what they want."

You've been at this a long time, where do you see it
going?

"We're going to win this. The taxpayer eventually will not put up with
hundreds of police officers being called into courts to give testimony
costing millions of dollars. They will not put up with cops endlessly
arresting people and making the legalization period even worse than it
was at the worst of prohibition. We're going to have to get people in
wheelchairs arrested. We're going to have to get sick people arrested.
We're going to have to put them on the front lines so that the public
can see who they're actually affecting."

"The citizens of Toronto love these dispensaries because they support
them in droves ... they are going to remember the people like John
Tory who brought this oppression to the kind of horrible peak that
we're seeing today. John Tory is finished.

"Let me guarantee you that."  
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MAP posted-by: Jo-D