SPREADING THE WORD

Marc Emery is making sure his looming stint in a United States federal
institution isn't going to affect his cause.

The marijuana activist known as the Prince of Pot was in Thunder Bay
on Sunday for a stop on his cross-country Farewell Tour. He is
spending the time leading up to his incarceration in the fall making
sure his message gets out so others will be ready to take up the fight.

"These tours are designed to inspire people to replace me," Emery, 51,
said at the Kakabeka Legion. "We have a minority government, and an
election's coming really soon, and the one problem is pot people,
typically, are cynical about voting. They don't think it accomplishes
anything.

"And they may be right, but the alternative is certainty that nothing
good is going to happen. If you vote, maybe nothing good will happen,
but the likelihood is if we all voted, we probably would have some
say. We would probably have some impact, and we would begin to
neutralize the vote of the very elderly, who are opposed to
(legalizing marijuana)."

The inspiration Emery spoke of Sunday afternoon was to come back
Sunday evening, when he and his wife Jodie were to give a two-to
three-hour, wide-ranging talk about what he's been up to, his pending
prison time, ending marijuana prohibition, and general appreciation of
the marijuana culture.

But Emery was working to inspire everyone he could even before his 6
p.m. speech, walking the grounds at the Kakabeka Legion and speaking
with the multitude of supporters he's got in the Thunder Bay area.

Emery said he always makes sure he's the last one there, so if anyone
has a question before or after his speech, he's available.

He said Thunder Bay's stop on the tour was the biggest so far, with
250 tickets sold. In all, 33 cities will be visited over the course of
the summer, Emery said.

And then, he's gone to the United States where he'll likely serve just
over four years as a result of a plea agreement.

The case stems from his 2005 arrest on drug charges. Emery's
Vancouver-based mail order business sold pot seeds to U.S. customers,
and was raided by Canadian police after a request by U.S.
authorities.

Emery fought extradition for a while, then decided serving time under
a deal was better than the alternative.

"It'll be a maximum of four years and two months if I stay the entire
time there, and if I get transferred back to Canada, I could be out on
full parole in about two years," Emery said. "I'll admit to one count
of distributing marijuana as seeds."

In return, three charges relating to an alleged conspiracy to grow and
distribute marijuana, and money laundering, will be dropped, Emery
said. All that, the well-spoken Emery said, could've resulted in 25
years in prison and a $1-million fine. And if he were to get that
fine, any chance of being transferred to another prison, such as one
in Canada, is gone, Emery said.

"Get this . . . 1.1 million pounds of marijuana, they're attributing
to me in their statement to the court," Emery said. "And what they've
done is they've taken all my seeds, and estimated how much would've
come from each seed.

"They say 100,000 pounds every year I was in business," said Emery,
who was in business 11 years. "They estimate that's worth US$3
billion. So that makes me the largest trafficker in the history of the
criminal justice system, according to them."

So it's less jail time, but it's still jail time.

But through it all, Emery never, ever stopped fighting for what he
believes in.

"I love doing this," he said. "I grew up in the '60s thinking this is
the best thing you can do, is fight for the oppressed, the underdog,
against the government who has all the money, all the power, all the
laws. I'm quite convinced I was destined for this."

He's been arrested 23 times for pot-related charges, and also for
other activities such as selling copies of a 2 Live Crew album which
was banned in Ontario when it was deemed obscene.

These days, though, marijuana laws are his focus.

He said current laws are punishing the wrong people.

The big-time and mid-level dealers go to jail anyway, Emery said. But
the smaller users or sellers - say, a young person selling a bit of
pot - are getting hit with jail time, too, which leaves them vulnerable.

"What happens when you go to jail is you join gangs," Emery said. "All
the prisons in this country are run by gangs."

He said new inmates are intimidated into joining a gang for various
reasons such as protection, and access to amenities like phones, food
or floor space.

But the problem is, once a person joins, they're in, and that means
getting involved in gang-related activity on the outside, which is
potentially violent.

"We've had 19 murders in Vancouver this year, all gang-related," Emery
said. "If we had an end to (marijuana) prohibition, this year, I tell
you, we would've had a zero murder rate.

"On the one hand, it shows how civilized we really are, and yet we
manufacture crime by these laws."

Emery's speech Sunday was recorded, and will be broadcast on LU radio
in the coming days, organizers said.