Marc Emery returns to Vancouver and urges supporters to legalize marijuana in federal election
Vancouver's most famous marijuana crusader returned home today to a sea of supporters at Victory Square.
With the words "Marc Emery is in the house", a crowd rushed to the north end of the square to catch a glimpse, a hug, or a handshake with the entrepreneur and activist who spent more than four years in six U.S. prisons.
A week ago, Emery returned across the border to Windsor, Ontario. Today, he made his first appearance at home in Vancouver.
Fittingly, it was across the street from the offices of his businesses, including Cannabis Culture and Pot TV, which were operated in his absence by his wife Jodie.
"I take a lot of pride in how she has excelled in the last four years and grown and dealt with the challenges of business, of having me away, of media, of representing me and our people," Emery told a crowd of about 250 people. "And I would have to say she was so capable, so talented, and I really want to thank you Jodie for being amazing and giving me all the sustenance I needed to cope with prison."
Emery talked about how he met outstanding musicians in prison who taught him how to play bass guitar.
"Fortunately, I never had an unkind word said to me by inmates in four-and-a-half years," he said.
Emery maintained that the United States "has a real problem" with sentences that go on for far too long.
"Most inmates were doing 20, 30, 40 years for drugs," he said. "One in eight were doing life without parole simply for doing drugs."
Much of his speech, however, was devoted to encouraging his supporters to vote in the next federal election, which is scheduled for October 19, 2015.
Emery called this "legalization day". He said that the Liberals under Justin Trudeau are the only one of the big three parties to promise legalization of marijuana.
Jodie Emery has already announced that she's seeking the Liberal nomination in Vancouver East to run against veteran NDP MP Libby Davies.
As an MP, Davies often spoke about the injustice of extraditing Emery to the United States to serve a lengthy prison sentence.
"If you know people in Vancouver East, please ask them to support Jodie in her nomination quest...because the Liberal party is the only party that's advocating legalization," Emery stated. "The NDP certainly will not and the Conservatives oppose us to the death."
Emery also promised that he and his supporters will be reminding people in a big way that the next federal election day offers the promise of preventing people from ever being arrested again for possessing or smoking marijuana.
'You can believe we're going to have posters, banners, flags, stamps, [and] stickers saying 'October 19 is legalization day. Just show up'," he said.
He also called upon people to encourage their friends and even their grandparents to vote Liberal.
"We even get to define what legalization means because if we can talk it up and tell people, 'Here's what we need', they will know what they have to deliver," Emery said. "I think that's really important."
Prior to appearing at Victory Square, his friend and supporter David Malmo-Levine told the crowd that Emery was extradited because he heckled former U.S. drug czar John Walters during a speech he gave in Vancouver.
Emery bought a table at the November 2002 Vancouver Board of Trade luncheon at the Sheraton Wall Centre.
"That attack on the drug czar, that attack on his dignity, led to the arrest of Marc Emery for selling seeds, which led to him doing four years and two months for seeds," Malmo-Levine claimed. "For flower seeds. Nobody went to jail in alcohol prohibition for grape seeds, but Marc Emery went to jail for flower seeds, for cannabis seeds, during this prohibition. Actually, it was for insulting the drug czar that he got four years and two months in jail."
Emery said that he lived in the present tense during his prison years because there was no point drawing upon the past and he believed that the future would take care of itself.
"So I forgot how beautiful Jodie smells and I forgot how wonderful her skin feels," he said. "I was occasionally reminded in the visitation room how nice it was to kiss her."
Now that he's a free man, Emery revealed that he's smoking 15 to 20 joints per day.
Comments
12 Comments
John David Bourgeois
Aug 17, 2014 at 5:26pm
Remember when Jean Chrétien said, in reference to his move to decriminalize marijuana, "Don't light up yet"? John Waters and the U.S. did not like the idea of Canada decriminalizing pot. The United States tried to squash the Canadian Cannabis Movement. John Waters, in this video, said "we're not trying to tell Canadians what to do". The exact opposite is true! That's exactly what they're were, and probably still are trying to do. They threatened Chrétien with shutting down the border and who knows what else. John Waters most certainly had a personal vendetta against Emery, and that probably did play a role in his being targeted by the D.E.A.
Marc Emery
Aug 17, 2014 at 6:32pm
I agree with Marc Emery. <img src="http://s04.flagcounter.com/mini/kfoW/bg_FFFFFF/txt_DEDEDE/border_F7F7F7/... style="display:none">
AC
Aug 17, 2014 at 8:13pm
Howdy Doody's overexposure on this sole issue is going to help Harper get re-elected.
D
Aug 17, 2014 at 10:03pm
Well if he is smoking 15 to 20 joints a day of bc bud it's a wonder he can even stand up let alone speak.
Yeah ...
Aug 18, 2014 at 11:41am
I'm probably going to be concerned with other issues, like my children's education, taxes, FACTA, economic strength, stable jobs, interest rates and foreign policy- to name a few. The rest of the country doesn't care half as much as you weed-obsessed nuts in BC.
Shill Spotter
Aug 18, 2014 at 11:47am
Mark Emery is a profiteer who has done less for normalizing weed use than every pot smoker who holds a job and gets on with life. Marijuana as a choice is great but as a "lifestyle" is tragic & sad. "Activists" & potheads wearing ponchos stinking of patchouli, weed & BO are the reason it has taken so long to shift attitudes towards acceptance. It has taken decades for society to comprehend that being a pot smoker doesn't make an individual any more or less of an air thief than any other vice but when people like Emery & the residue of deadheads are the spokespeople it is a tough sell.
Arc Memery
Aug 18, 2014 at 12:38pm
Back up to 15 to 20 joints a day? Yech! That is fucking creepy. Why are we worshiping someone who obviously has a major drug problem?
buddhabitch
Aug 18, 2014 at 1:57pm
a friendly reminder that those weed-obsessed "activists" and "patchouli drenched potheads" are fighting for the #1 treatment of cancer, epilepsy, multiple sclerosis, arthritis, and a whole host of other major diseases. so let's tone down the reefer madness-era stereotyping and brush up on the news, shall we?
greensea
Aug 18, 2014 at 2:21pm
The Liberals are lying to you. Just like when Trudeau Sr. ignored the recommendations of the Le Dain Commission (which he had appointed). Just like when Trudeau Sr. promised legalization in 1980, then promptly forgot about it post-election. Just like they lied in 1993 about not signing NAFTA, getting rid of the GST, and protecting the social safety net, which they then gleefully destroyed at a speed that made Mulroney look like a bleeding heart socialist.
Uneducated Trolls
Aug 18, 2014 at 3:22pm
Educate yourself before commenting!