RULE #1: LEAVE YOUR WEED AT HOME

MARC EMERY'S date at city hall turned into a standoff when police
discovered a bag of bud in the unattended backpack of a documentary
filmmaker.

Fireworks were expected at Vancouver city hall yesterday as "Prince of
Pot" Marc Emery was forced to defend himself at a business licence
panel.

But the real drama went down outside council chambers.

A tense standoff developed between a dozen Emery supporters and police
scheduled to testify at the hearing after a big bag of weed was
discovered in an unattended backpack.

A documentary filmmaker was identified as the bag's owner and he was
grabbed by police and taken to a secluded area of city hall.

Meanwhile, the remaining officers held many of Emery's supporters -
all proponents for legalized marijuana - at bay metres from the
council chamber.

Terse words were exchanged as the activists lobbied for the man's
release and as police tried to protect the identity of undercover
officers from the documentary crew.

The affair was finally defused when officers let the filmmaker go,
although without his bag of bud.

The incident capped an otherwise uneventful day, as the business
licence panel heard from only one of nine scheduled witnesses.

The city's chief license inspector, Barbara Windsor, testified Emery's
Avalon Sunsplash Ltd. company was denied business licences for the 420
Convenience Store, Cannabis Culture magazine and Marc Emery's Cannabis
Culture Headquarters - all in the 300-block of West Hastings Street -
because of a 2004 trafficking conviction in Saskatchewan and police
allegations of drug use in the building.

Outside city hall, Emery told reporters the businesses are
legitimate.

"We're talking about a convenience store here, a retail store, our
offices: None of which sell marijuana or do anything illegal," Emery
said. "They won't give us a licence because it's my name. It's Marc
Emery and they don't want me downtown."

The hearing has been put over until July 21 due to scheduling
conflicts.