PRINCE OF POT PLANS PROTEST

Marc Emery, former London pot activist and bookstore owner, is coming home
today to light up at a familiar place -- the steps of the London police
station. Emery, now of Vancouver, grabbed headlines in the 1990s with
unsuccessful stunts to get arrested for smoking pot and selling books on
illegal drugs in front of the police station.

Today, the ex-owner of City Lights bookstore plans to smoke up as part of
his Summer of Legalization tour, says Cannabis Culture, a magazine he
publishes.

But with the law on pot possession now hazy, it's likely Emery won't be busted.

"Simple possession is not an offence, so we can't do anything," London
police Const. Paul Martin said yesterday.

Known as the "prince of pot" in Vancouver, Emery was charged in Calgary and
Edmonton this month, according to Cannabis Culture.

In June, he led a smoke-in outside Toronto police headquarters after
Ontario's top court ruled it would not overturn a precedent-setting ruling
clearing a teen of pot possession charges.

As a result, police forces in Ontario said they won't lay charges for
possessing less than 30 grams of marijuana until laws are clarified.

No action is planned against Emery, said Martin, who called the activist's
plan an "in-your-face" antic.

"Is he coming back to London because of his years of battle?" asked Martin.
"If that's his purpose, he's not going to get the reaction he's looking for."

Emery, who owned City Lights for 17 years, has a long history of activism,
including in favour of Sunday shopping and against censorship.

Emery could not be reached yesterday. But Jim Capel, co-owner of City
Lights, supports his former boss. "(Emery) likes to call himself a freedom
fighter," he said. "This is another one of the tenets he believes in --
sometimes laws have to be broken to change them."