JAILED MARIJUANA ACTIVIST THANKFUL FOR ANY SUPPORT

One thing that lifts Jodie Emery's spirits this Christmas is the
outpouring of support her jailed husband has received from marijuana
advocates around the world.

Marc Emery is 10 months into his five-year sentence for selling
marijuana seeds by mail order to customers in the U.S. He was
transferred to a prison in Georgia last month.

"Marc is always very positive and upbeat," his wife Jodie told The Province.

"He says he does cry every day thinking of me, he just misses me so
much. But when he's not thinking of me and how much he wants to be
home, he's keeping really busy.

"He gets a lot of mail. Every time the mail shows up, all the inmates
start chanting, 'Free Marc! Free Marc!'"

The Emerys recently staged a worldwide fundraising drive through the
website freemarc.ca, which brought in more than $20,000. That money
has gone to the legal team working to bring Marc back to Canada.

Jodie says the Canadian transfer application is under way as is the
U.S. application. The U.S. should have their decision by February.
Once approved, Marc could return to Canada to finish serving his sentence.

In Canada, Emery would be able to apply for day parole soon after
being repatriated. He will have served one-third of his sentence in
September 2011, which would allow him to apply for full parole.

"He should have been charged in Canada and not sent to a foreign
country he never went to," said Jodie. "He paid income tax on the
seed sales. The [Canadian] government got over $580,000."

Jodie last visited Marc during the weekend of Dec. 18 and 19. "It's a
big visiting room with cameras and guards everywhere. You get to have
a hug and kiss hello and you can hold hands the whole time.

"There's no real violence," she added.