POT PRAISED BY EMERY

Weed was in the air this week as leader of the British Columbia
Marijuana party, Marc Emery, visited McMaster and sang the praises of
smoking pot.

Emery, marijuana advocate and supporter of the New Democratic Party,
spoke to interested students and members of the public about the
benefits of smoking marijuana, and the difficulties pot smokers have
with the authorities. Emery presented to a number of self-declared
"stoned" audience members, and began the afternoon with free pizza and
pop and the reading of a rhyming poem praising marijuana and promoting
its legalization.

"There is nothing bad about pot," declared Emery. "Pot is perfect.
Everything they've told you about pot is a lie."

The guest lecturer, originally from London, Ontario, has been "toking
up" for about 23 years now. He proudly spoke of his many arrests,
convictions, and strip-searches, which he said he bears like medals of
valour. Sparing no detail, Emery recounted the story of the "sensually
enhanced" experience he had losing his virginity while "high."

In his discussion, Emery compared marijuana to the more commonly
consumed--and legal--alcohol. He contended that thousands of pot
smokers are sent to jail for weed every year while weed doesn't kill
anyone. Meanwhile, alcohol is attributed to over 10,000 deaths every
year, all accidental, criminal, and illness-related. Yet, nobody goes
to jail for possessing or consuming alcohol, which, Emery argues, is a
more harmful substance than marijuana.

"If you smoke marijuana, you will not get lung cancer," said Emery.
"Nobody has ever died from respiratory problems due to the smoking of
weed. Meanwhile, cigarettes are extremely harmful to the respiratory
system, they are proven to cause cancer, and proven to be very
addictive while, unlike pot, they don't do anything good for you."

Emery further argued that the chemicals we release into the air from
factories and vehicles are much more dangerous and harmful to people
than weed. He also noted that since weed has never been known to kill
anyone, peanuts, which kill many people each year, are even more dangerous.

"In fact, while cigarettes leave poisonous tar inside the lungs and
constrict the lungs, weed particles leave the lungs when the smoke is
exhaled, leaving only the THC which naturally opens up your lungs and
even attacks tumors. There are lists of legal things that kill people
every day from peanuts and junk food to alcohol and cigarettes, and
yet it is for weed, which hasn't ever killed anyone, that thousands of
us go to jail every year."

Emery urged audience members to become marijuana activists saying that
it is a cultural practice that enhances creativity, sensitivity, inner
peace, and outward tolerance and patience. He said that his work is
not to advocate some harmful drug-induced, carefree, do-nothing
lifestyle; rather, it is to promote a healthier lifestyle both
physically and mentally.

"I'm not out to get wasted," said Emery, "I have lots of weed parties
but we never serve alcohol or provide any narcotics. It's about being
naturally healthy and happy... pot is even great for people with
multiple sclerosis and Crohn's disease."

Emery renounces the term, "medicinal marijuana." According to him,
everybody who uses pot uses it for therapeutically and recreationally,
whether they admit it or not. He went on to say that the allowance of
medicinal marijuana is likely just a kind of trial being run by the
government to gauge the public reaction to various degrees or
legalized marijuana.

"Your teachers, parents, police, and politicians; everybody in
authority will lie to you about pot. The fact is that pot doesn't make
you stupid or incapable of learning or productivity; it just adds
another dimension to the senses. Pot makes you more receptive, more
creative, and more attentive to the process at hand rather than the
end result. That means that if you do something when you're high,
you'll pay more attention to the small details of what you're doing,
and so, you'll do it better."

"Write letters to the government," urged Emery. "Support
pro-legalization political groups, the biggest of which for us in
Canada being the NDP. Create student groups designed to raise
awareness of our cause. But most of all, as often as you can, smoke
with large groups of people as openly as you like. Marijuana isn't a
dirty secret that we have to hide; it is our right as free people, so
enjoy it freely."

Monday's three-hour-long seminar in TSH 120 ended with a large group
of people lighting up in the arts quad, smoking weed and even offering
some to passers-by. Marc Emery, himself, proudly joined, toking up
alongside his fellow supporters.