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Hashishi

Prince of pot or dope of Vansterdam?
10-23-`07 | Globe and Mail | by Sarah Hampson

'It's not love of the spotlight," snaps Marc Emery. "It's because I'm competent in the spotlight."

The Prince of Pot is dressed in an Armani suit. He figures it will help his cause. "If you're not well-groomed and -dressed, people see you as a pothead," he points out, fingering his green, swirl-print tie.

"I am best for the spotlight," he carries on, crouched forward, ready to provoke. "When you look at who should be representing our culture, I just can't see anybody who's been better at it than I have been."

But listen to him for an hour and you begin to wonder if Mr. Emery, who is a hero in Vancouver - or rather, Vansterdam, the centre of Canada's tolerated cannabis culture - is, indeed, the best representative.

He has been enormously successful at drawing attention to the issue of marijuana decriminalization, but the Prince of Pot treads perilously close to being the Dope of Vansterdam. The crown this Prince wears is one of blinding (and goofy) self-importance.

He is not high, he insists. He smokes weed every day, but usually in the afternoon. It is only 10 in the morning. Still, with little prompting, he goes off on strange, long-winded detours. He informs me about his vasectomy at age 19: "I was cauterized. And I was the youngest person in Canada to get one."

He describes his first time smoking weed at 22: "It was December 21, 1980, at about 10 to midnight."

"I had just fallen in love, and I was about to go down on my girlfriend. And I looked up, and she had this joint in her mouth, and she said, 'Before you do what you're doing down there, smoke this.' I did, and it was fantastic," he says, before delivering a spaced-out description of her genitalia.

With complete seriousness he outlines some stranger's prophesy 30 years ago, well before he became a renowned pot activist, that he would make millions (he has, he claims), that he should preserve his "steel-trap mind" and that he would be involved in a big fight over "some kind of leaf."

Wow, you think, this dude is on a serious head trip.

He wants people to take his cause seriously - and it has its merits - but it is hard to do the same with him.

Mr. Emery, who is 50, is currently in the highest-stake fight of his activist life. In 2005, the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration asked the Canadian government to extradite him and two of his Vancouver employees on charges of drug-trafficking because he exported marijuana seeds to American buyers. The police swept in and closed down his Vancouver-based Internet catalogue business, which he says pulled in annual revenues of $3-million.

It is this Canadian police co-operation with American anti-drug squads that irks his legion of supporters. They view it as an unquestioned knee-jerk reaction, and feel the action is disproportionate to the crime. A guy who grows marijuana seeds (and pays taxes on his business like everyone else) may have to spend the rest of his life in some Draconian American prison?

Tomorrow night, the CBC will air The Prince of Pot: The U.S. vs. Marc Emery, a documentary that heightens the rhetoric of the debate to a matter of Canadian sovereignty.

"This is asymmetrical warfare," Mr. Emery explains in his rapid-fire delivery. "Like al-Qaeda. Little people attacking a big organization."

The extradition hearing is set for late January. His lawyer doesn't hold much hope that the Canadian government, especially a Conservative one, will stand up to the U.S. demand.

Mr. Emery relishes the fight.

"I am counting on the Canadian and U.S. governments to do the wrong thing. That would play right into my hands," he says. "I hope they agree to extradite me, because there would be a generation of young people who would be furious at the government."

It is his destiny to be a martyr, a latter-day Martin Luther King, he says. "I feel very specially appointed to do this job. My whole life is about this. I'm meant to do this. I believe I was put here for this very purpose."

It has something to do with his identification with Spider-Man. "The meaning of life is to do good," he says, adding that this was a revelation he had while high. "I was a big fan of comic books when I was young. Spider-Man wanted to do good. But he was misunderstood. Nobody appreciated him. And it was a lot harder than he thought. He never got any gratitude. People resented him. I learned from that."

Mr. Emery, who is the second-eldest of four children born into a blue-collar family in London, Ont., is a zealous salesman of the High Life. He started the B.C. Marijuana Party and ran several times unsuccessfully for local and federal office. He has a website called Pot-tv.net.

At the start of the interview, he strides into the room in downtown Toronto, brandishing his product: copies of his glossy magazine, Cannabis Culture; a parody of the Harry Potter story called Hairy Pothead and the Marijuana Stone; a few T-shirts that protest his extradition; his favourite bong; and a little packet of top-quality weed.

He has been arrested 22 times on marijuana-related charges and jailed 17 times, but Canadian officials have always viewed Mr. Emery as little more than a nuisance, like an annoying friend who has to be put in his place every once in a while but who is still invited to all the parties.

His problem, though, is that his love of provocation, and his inability to reign himself in, may serve to diminish whatever authority he possesses.

It is not just marijuana that should be legalized, he posits.

"People have a right to cocaine ... Same with heroin and crystal meth. Look, we have legal amphetamines. We give our kids Ritalin. That's similar to crystal meth."

But what about addiction?

"Yeah, but that's not your problem or my problem. See, I've treated addicts. I spent $250,000 between 2002 and 2004 on drug-addiction clinics. Drug addicts have to go to rehab 10 times to even have a chance to get out. It's expensive ... We shouldn't even let them bottom out. Just let them have the drugs," he says.

Mr. Emery has never had a problem with addiction, he says. Pot has enhanced his life in many ways. "Everywhere I go, people stop me. Everybody smokes pot, and they see me as their leader. It has made me a better business person, because it makes you more open. You're not judgmental."

But Mr. Emery can't stop there. Soon, he is discussing the merits of pot as a remedy for erectile dysfunction. Last year, he married his assistant, Jodie, who is 22.

"Cannabis acts like Viagra for five or 10 minutes. It increases your heart rate. You get stronger erections," he burbles on.

"But I do take Cialis," he adds, raising one forefinger in the air like a child in the classroom who has one more important point to make. "Two or three times a week," he says, grinning widely.

Mr. Emery is an adolescent masquerading as an adult. He has no sense of boundaries, and is prone to self-sabotage. He believes his outspokenness mocks the grown-up world of polite opinion. But he doesn't see that he is also making a mockery of himself.

"Come," he beckons to the Globe photographer as I close the interview. He wants to take her outside so he can be photographed in his best suit, smoking from his big, fancy bong. He figures it will be a cool shot.

__________________
SWP



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Jake

A good article.

Emery has one of the biggest egos in the world, I'm sure. I am thankful for what he has done. Just by forcing the issue on people and starting good debates is amazing. He has had probably the largest impact on legalization than almost anyone in the past 20 years.

I just wish we had someone else to push the movement. Emery can't be taken seriously enough to ever cause real, lasting change.

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Buzzby

Wow! Excellent article! That's the best analysis of Marc Emery's character that I've ever seen.

Appealing to the rebelliousness of adolescents (of all ages) might get him a lot of ego props, but it doesn't do much to convince non-pot-smokers that marijuana can be a normal part of the lives of people who aren't devotées of a drug-oriented lifestyle. Those are the people we need on the side of legalizing weed. People will be willing to legalize marijuana when they don't see it as a threat to their culture. As long as its users are presented as a separate "cannabis counterculture", the general culture will continue to see it as a threat to their way of life.

In my opinion, extremists like Emery do more harm than good. Forty years ago, maybe, the use of marijuana was largely limited to people who thought of themselves as outside mainstream culture. That certainly isn't true anymore. Emery isn't a good representative for mature adults who use cannabis. I'm sure many people who post here will disagree with me, but the people who frequent Marijuana.com are self-selected as being more involved with a "marijuana lifestyle" than the typical marijuana user.

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troublemaker_42

I've made my views on Emery well known in the past. I believe the author and I have VERY similiar views concerning the guy...attention fiends like him an njweedman have set us back, not moved us foreward. I don't want to be associated with their ilk.....like Buzzby said, clinging on to what sets us apart form "conventional" (ie: non-toking) society is a recipie for disaster. I think its more important to show the world that people from EVERY walk of life smoke pot, and that we need to focus on how we're all the same. The outlaw, rebel attitude only serves to distance us from the very people whose minds we need to change. I'm glad more people are waking up to this fact. I've been attacked verbally many times for not supporting him, but I just can't bring myself to stand behind someone who, while having our best interest at heart, goes about it entirely the wrong way.

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Keep the gun oiled and the temple clean
shit, snort and blaspheme
Let the heads cool and the engine run
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everything we do
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Victor_vicious

I agree Marc Emery is full of him self. So was Mohammed Ali. Still did a lot for African Americans. Evil Knievel was famous for ...Celebrities are supposed to be that way.
He may actually have a point here though. If the Canadian Government doesn't stand up to the US on this they will pay. VV

 

Bowlblaze

I agree that Emery maybe isn't going about his fight in the most efficient manner. That being said, I greatly, greatly respect his dedication to this cause. If everyone who criticized him got off THEIR couch and did something, ANYTHING, to try to help, we'd be getting somewhere. I think that his success will not be in convincing the mainstream that legalization is a good idea; he could, however, help motivate others to continue the fight. I already don't respect the current Canadian government, but I'll do a lot more to actively try to get rid of it if they cave to US pressure.

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Buzzby

The problem with Marc Emery is not that he's full of himself. It's that he doesn't seem to think that there's anything wrong with saying whatever's on his mind. That might be a great approach when you're sitting around getting high with your buddies. It's not so great when you are a political figure whose words are copied down and published everywhere.

That statement blows whatever credibility Emery might have had with the general public. Why is it so hard to get medical marijuana legalized? Many people believe that it's a front for legalizing recreational marijuana, something they don't want to happen. While a third of the public favors legalizing recreational marijuana, the percentage who want heroin and cocaine and meth legalized is minute. When people hear that Emery wants to legalize all drugs, all of his efforts to legalize marijuana will fall on deaf ears - except for the ears of the druggies who seem to be his target demographic.

And that's the problem. It may be very satisfying, preaching to the choir and getting their approbation, but it doesn't do much to further the cause of getting marijuana legalized. If we want to get accepted by the general culture, the last thing to do is portray marijuana users as being on the outside of their society and as poly-drug users.

reggie_the_dog

I think it is great to push the envelope. Doing a summer of leglaization tour to demonstrate that the law had been declared unconstitutional saved thousands from arrest.

Also he is correct when he says to legalize all drugs. That would eliminate problems with money laundering, reduce overdoses and the spread of disease, and cut the profits of gangs, not to mention it would respect our right as individuals. (How many folks here on this site had mind opening experiences with mushrooms, LSD or MDMA?) The German state legislatures recently voted to pay for heroin with the national health service funds and to have purity labled heroin and clean needles given out for free.

In BC they have government run heroin maintenence programs. Cities like Vancouver reckognize that people have a right to have heroin. In Canada (and most of western Europe) his arguments are not as extreme as they are in the USA.. He wants Canadian legalization first and foremost. All that he does to help in the USA is just part of his international reform effort, but do not forget that he wants to help his country first, not ours.

reggie_the_dog

you said, in the context of Marc Emery saying all drugs should be legalized "Why is it so hard to get medical marijuana legalized? Many people believe that it's a front for legalizing recreational marijuana, something they don't want to happen. While a third of the public favors legalizing recreational marijuana, the percentage who want heroin and cocaine and meth legalized is minute. When people hear that Emery wants to legalize all drugs, all of his efforts to legalize marijuana will fall on deaf ears - except for the ears of the druggies who seem to be his target demographic."

in the USA medical marijuana is supported by a majority of the population. It has won referendums in every state people have ever had the chance to vote on it. Look at his country too, in Canada a majority support ending cannabis prohibition. This evolution took place because of people like Marc Emery. He is not just preaching to US authorities. He is talking to Canadian authorities first and foremost.

troublemaker_42

Actually you need to research your facts. MMJ HAS been defeated in AT LEAST one state--South Dakota. It was defeated by, I believe a 52% vs 48% margin.

Furthermore, while its possible all drugs should be legalized, its NOT going to happen. Far more people are opposed to the legalization of hard drugs than marijuana. if the marijuana legalization effort EVER hopes to succeed, the idea of legalizing everything needs to at least take a backseat for now. Personally, I'm NOT in favor of outright legalization of every substance, and if it were to put on the ballot today, I'd likely vote against it. The marijuana legalization effort will face certain demise if people insist its an all or nothing issue