A FATTY OF A WEDDING GIFT

Prince Of Pot's Herb-Filled Nuptials Get Stoked By New Extradition
Ruling Marc Emery And Jodie Giesz-Ramsay's Weeded Bliss Attracted
Canada's Pot Aficionados.

VANCOUVER -- the nuptials between Marc "Prince of Pot" Emery and
Jodie Giesz-Ramsay must have seemed like the first act in The
Godfather to the U.S. Drug Enforcement Agency.

I'm talking about the wedding scene where all the Mob heads gather to
honour Don Vito Corleone on his daughter's wedding day.

The difference is that this marriage is taking place in a white tent
in Vancouver's Queen Elizabeth Park, where 75 guests blow bubbles,
some smoke-filled.

There are too many boom mics and media people blocking our view of
the vows, but still, it's disappointing that the DEA didn't send a
photographer. Getting immortalized by the Man at the Prince of Pot's
wedding would have been too cool.

Snap!

There's Emery's co-accused, bridesmaid Michelle Rainey-Fenkarek,
herding well-dressed potheads into something resembling a wedding party.

Snap!

Emery, who faces extradition to the U.S. for conspiracy to sell pot
seeds on the Internet and conspiracy to manufacture marijuana, had
his bail conditions changed so he could tie the knot. So did his two
co-arrestees.

The bridesmaids are wearing royal purple gowns, not green, while the
bride is elegant in a trained, creamy-white strapless. Her first
contact, at age 18, with her Prince of Pot came via his online forums.

Quickly transforming the traditional rituals, chilled-out guests
spend more time in cannabis-sharing circles outside the tent than in
their chairs witnessing the vows. This suits best man Dana Larsen,
former Cannabis Culture editor and now Vancouver Seed Bank
proprietor, perfectly. No stoned speeches to make.

Emery doesn't do much pot pontificating, stopping himself during a
rambling reception speech. The Prince of Pot seems blazed from all
the love in the reception hall.

There were moments during the past year's extradition ordeal when the
groom seemed weary, vulnerable and humble, despite his assertions to
the contrary. After all, he could end up in the pot penalty box
forever. But gazing over the room today, he beams, praising friends
for following their own "opportunity," by which he means pot business
opportunities.

At one time, Vansterdam was the font of all cannabis wisdom. Now
everyone is doing his or her own "toker thing," Emery says. The toker
takedown in Van has turned Toronto into an "unlimited" opportunity:
more people making pot food, toking tour operators, more
bring-your-own-bud cafes, more inspired weed warriors.

When the top of the cannabis plant is pruned, the plant sprouts two
shoots. There are so many stoned shoots at this reception, it's
marijuana magical.

The case is seldom mentioned here. I'm not here to bring it up, and
Emery and his new bride claim they never discuss it.

Jodie Emery seems to evoke a softer side in the man known for
occasional bombastic outbursts of absurdity. She also has impeccable
taste, having turned the BC Marijuana Party's vapour lounge and ganja
garden potio into places of beauty. The groom says his bride gets her
fantastic sense of flair from her mom. "Her whole family is
beautiful," he tells me.

When someone does bring up the taboo extradition subject, it's in a
positive frame. Word is going around that the Supreme Court of Canada
may have given the pair a wedding gift.

According to lawyer Kirk Tousaw, general counsel for the BC Marijuana
Party and confidant of Emery, et al., a July ruling on a U.S.
extradition case against Shane Tyrone Ferras, Leroy Latty and Lynval
Wright, not involving pot, might have implications for the Emery
matter. The decision, says Tousaw, "expands the role of the hearing
judge in extradition hearings."

Prior to this decision, he says, the judge had a limited role in
reviewing evidence being used by the state requesting the
extradition. "In Ferras, the Court read in additional protections.
Practically speaking, this decision should have the effect of making
the committal hearing a more substantive process and could result in
longer and more in-depth hearings."

Judges, he says, can now look at the whole of the evidence and such
matters as whether that evidence is sufficient to convict, whether it
is reliable and whether it is really available to be used in court.

All this could strenghten the cases of Emery and his co-accused,
which go to trial on August 21. What they already have going for them
is the fact that a Canadian judge can examine the evidence offered by
the other country to determine whether or not there is evidence of
conduct that would justify committal for trial in Canada

This is important because seed selling is a tolerated, rarely
punished crime here. Much of the DEA evidence, according to
extradition documents, consists of American growers who had his seed
catalogue (Cannabis Culture) at the time of their arrest. Then there
are the DEA agents who made in-store seed purchases and who, on their
own, smuggled seeds to the U.S.

By America's reasoning, any country where Emery's product landed,
like Australia, could seek his extradition. This thinking is as nutty
as Canada's broadcast regulator, the CRTC, demanding Fox News
propagandist Bill O'Reilly's extradition for promoting hate speech.

We can only dream.