HIGH LOONIE A DOWNER FOR POT EXPORTERS

VANCOUVER - Canada's soaring loonie and an increasing number of U.S.
marijuana producers are combining to upset B.C.'s traditional
north-south flow of illegal weed, says the man dubbed the Prince of
Pot.

Marc Emery said during an interview that with the loonie at parity
with the U.S. dollar, it's no longer lucrative enough for smugglers to
risk taking it across the border.

Instead, they can earn almost as much by transporting it within
Canada, with emerging markets like Newfoundland taking up the slack.

"In the old days (2002), a pound that cost $1,600 here would go for
$3,500 U.S., so it was enough of an incentive to make it worth the
risk," Emery said. "Now, it costs $2,400 U.S. for a pound, so it's not
lucrative enough. Canadian pot has gone up by almost 50 per cent."

Emery said he's been told that many U.S. homeowners, who may lose
their homes because of the U.S. mortgage crisis, are setting up
grow-ops to save their homes, bypassing the need for Canuck weed.

"Rather than losing their home, people are taking their chances
converting part of their house into a grow-op to help cover the
shortfall. That was normal in B.C. 10 years ago (there was a downturn
in traditional B.C. resource-based sectors)," said Emery, founder of
the B.C. Marijuana Party.

Emery said that Mexican pot producers selling to the U.S. are also
benefitting, due to the relatively weak peso.

Western Canadian producers are eyeing markets like Alberta,
Saskatchewan and Newfoundland to take up the slack.

Emery, who once sold marijuana seeds via air mail primarily to the
U.S., is facing extradition by the U.S. Drug Enforcement Agency. He's
due in court Jan. 21.