MARC EMERY'S PET CAUSE IS MARC EMERY

"I regard going to jail as a very pivotal time in my life . . .
because it hardens you. It makes you realize the consequences of when
you exercise your freedom. You see, if you wanted to be a free man in
Canada, you would spend most of your time in jail."

. Marc Scott Emery, in 1987

With a stroke of his pen, federal Justice Minister Rob Nicholson this
week opened a new chapter in the quixotic life of Vancouver-based Marc
Emery, the former Londoner dubbed the "Prince of Pot" for his
marijuana activism.

The Harper government decided Emery would be extradited to the United
States to begin serving a five-year sentence -- the result of a plea
bargain on charges that might otherwise have kept him there for 20 --
for selling marijuana seeds to American customers via the Internet.

Whether his time in a U.S. penitentiary will again be a "pivotal" time
in his life and whether he still regards incarceration as an exercise
in freedom are open questions. Eventually, we'll no doubt be treated
to his answers.

Emery has always has been a polarizing figure, partly because of the
causes he undertook but partly also because of his ability to garner
public attention by shifting the spotlight off issues and onto himself.

Soon after he left high school to take over a bookshop, he picked a
fight with London's downtown business association over an improvement
tax that amounted to little more than $30. It would be the start of a
staccato political career over three decades that would see him test
his appeal among voters at all levels of government, with no fewer
than five political parties.

Emery opposed London's nascent bid to host the 1991 Pan American
Games, arguing the city shouldn't be in the business of running games.
He opened his shop in defiance of Sunday shopping laws (for which he
spent four days in jail) shortly before Sunday shopping in Ontario
became legal. He protested provincial obscenity laws by selling banned
music by rappers 2 Live Crew. He dared police to arrest him by selling
grow-op books and lighting up a supersized joint in front of London's
police headquarters.

When he sensed the public spotlight in London was beginning to fade,
he moved his family to India and then Indonesia in search of broader
minds and new adventures. Two years later he returned to Canada,
eventually making Vancouver his base of operations, selling seeds and
cannabis paraphernalia and continuing his marijuana-legalization efforts.

In 30 years in journalism, I've met many mavericks, gadflies and
devotees to a range of political and social causes. Emery, to his
credit, has forced us think seriously about a variety of issues: the
limits of personal freedom, censorship and the decriminalization of
marijuana, as examples. But his circular logic, self-contradiction and
sophomoric self-aggrandizement have been weak points.

At about the same time as Emery was raising his profile in London, I
was in regular contact with a husband and wife who were ardent peace
activists in Colorado. They took turns entering the perimeter of a
nuclear-weapons manufacturing facility outside Denver. Each time,
they'd be arrested. Each time, they'd be sent to jail. They timed
their activities so that one of them was always home to look after
their children. Above all, they tried to keep public attention on the
issue of nuclear proliferation, not themselves. Whether or not you
agreed with their actions, they communicated a powerful integrity.

That's what Emery seemed to lack. He swung wildly across the political
spectrum. He failed, at times, to do important research on issues. His
ego frequently got in the way of informed discussion. He mocked O
Canada for its "complete and utter idiocy," renounced it as "a fraud,"
and yet regularly took shelter under the nation's flag. He's seeking
that again by wanting to serve his sentence here.

Now that he has achieved the kind of political martyrdom he'd long
sought for the sake of the cannabis cause, his supporters are planning
national and international "Free Marc Emery" protests for a week from
today.

He is bright, articulate and committed. But the overriding perception
is that the most important cause in the mind of Marc Emery is Marc
Emery.