RALLY CALLS FOR PRO-POT ADVOCATE TO BE RELEASED

About 40 pot smokers and their supporters gathered at Memorial Park in
Sudbury on Saturday afternoon as part of a day of protest across the
globe in support of Marc Emery -- Canada's so-called Prince of Pot.

"I'm really happy everyone came out today," said Kayla Guse, one of
the organizers of the Sudbury rally. "It's to create awareness about
what happened with Marc Emery and his extradition and pretty much to
show the government that we are not going to sit around and do nothing."

Rallies to support Emery were held in more than 100 locations in 11
countries on Saturday.

Emery, a Vancouver-based promarijuana activist, was extradited to the
United States on Thursday after Justice Minister Rob Nicholson gave
the green light. He sold seeds over the Internet to people in the U.S.

He faces five years in jail in exchange for pleading guilty. Canadian
authorities have known about Emery's seed-selling business for a long
time and have, for the most part, ignored it.

"Marc Emery spent all the money he earned on legalizing marijuana and
that's why he, and not the thousands of other seed sellers, was sought
for extradition," stated Jacob Hunter, Free Marc Emery Campaign
organizer, in a press release. "The DEA admitted this in their press
release, which claimed Emery's arrest was a 'significant blow to the
marijuana legalization movement.'

"The Conservative government of Canada has silenced a political
opponent by sending him to jail in another country. We will not stop
our campaign until the Harper government is defeated and Marc Emery is
back in Canada where he belongs."

Rally-goers in Sudbury, such as Justin P. who didn't want to give his
full last name, hope their protest helps change the government's mind.

"Other countries were getting pissy because (Emery) was doing
something nasty in their country that we don't consider that bad
here," Justin said. "That's why the Americans are all in a huff about
it, because for them it's a big deal."

The protest in Sudbury was also targeting the Conservative Party's
proposed Bill S-10, which would impose mandatory minimum sentencing on
marijuana possession, hash oil possession (12 months) as well as
growing (more than six plants would result in six to 10 months prison).

"We are just basically trying to put out the message the marijuana
itself is not actually that bad of a substance," Justin said. "For
some people, it's better than alcohol.

"It could be used for thousands of medicinal purposes," he added.