CITY'S PRINCE OF POT READY TO TIE THE KNOT

A recent wedding announcement in a local paper expressed hope that the
couple spends many happy years together in beautiful British Columbia.
Considering one of the betrothed is Marc Emery, that seems unlikely.

The so-called Prince of Pot faces extradition to the United States for
selling marijuana seeds over the Internet to American buyers, but that
didn't dissuade him from popping the question to Jodie Giesz-Ramsay
last January. The pair marry at the Queen Elizabeth Park Rose Garden,
July 23. It's both an optimistic and practical plan.

"I wanted Jodie to be kind of my legal heir. She's worked with me on
the magazine [Cannabis Culture] for a year-and-a-half," said the
48-year-old. "It's a way to give her legal authority to control my
affairs if I get shipped off and to monitor the magazine and
everything I'm responsible for. It's kind of like the old fashioned
way-we're crazy in love with each other, but it's also an alliance of
sorts."

Emery, who had a short-lived marriage in 1999, heads back to court
Aug. 21 to set an extradition hearing date, which he expects will be
next spring. If the judge commits him for extradition, the federal
justice minister would have to sign off on it, according to Emery.

"That's when Canadians will have a chance to save my ass actually," he
said. "I would say that's the only place it could happen. If the
justice minister follows through in what we expect and extradites me,
the total options would probably take up three years."

Giesz-Ramsay, 21, assistant editor at Cannabis Culture, concedes her
future husband may be extradited, but is prepared for it.

"The whole idea of getting married right now is to create our official
relationship, before he goes, as a married couple. Hopefully, he'll
just have to spend time in jail here at the worst," she said, adding,
"Many happy years could be three years because even one year now feels
like an eternity. Whatever time we do have together is always really
great. I'm not looking ahead to plans about investing in a home and
things like that. I just go day by day like he does-that's where we're
kind of the same."

Her family supports the match and is paying for the
wedding.

Emery notes his magazine is doing better than before his arrest with
14 more pages of advertising, and the Internet-based Pot TV has
attracted sponsors. His political reach has also expanded with media
coverage in the United States and elsewhere. The Washington Post
recently ran a story about Emery, including an announcement about his
impending wedding.

A 60 Minutes profile of Emery, which was shown last March and watched
by 12 million viewers, will be rebroadcast in about three weeks. "I
think things are great. I'm very optimistic about that-everything
about life, just not necessarily the extradition," he said.

Giesz-Ramsay, meanwhile, is ready to stand beside him.

"There's definitely no money to be inherited, but you know I believe
very strongly in what he does. If he's going to go to jail then I have
to be back here doing what he does and more."