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Tuesday, July 21, 2009

Drugs Egomaniac Seeks More Attention

Posted by Dominic Holden on Tue, Jul 21, 2009 at 4:50 PM

Marc Emery got busted for selling pot seeds from a catalog inside the bi-monthly magazine he publishes, Cannabis Culture. There are few acts that violate drug laws more flagrant than running an international seed trafficking business out of every magazine store in America, so it was no surprise when the DEA busted him a few years back. Since then, Emery has been braying about his terrible fate and waltzing around calling himself "The Prince of Pot." Now I don't think people should go to jail for pot, but I'm not going to act surprised or try to make him the poster child of martyrdom in the Drug War—I believe the saying is, "You brought that shit on yourself." And I'm certainly not going to be party to this:

He has plans for a grand send-off before he is sentenced in a federal court in Seattle on marijuana charges and, presumably, sent off to prison.

Emery spent years fighting federal prosecutors after his marijuana-seed business in Vancouver, B.C., got him busted by agents with the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration in 2005. Earlier this year, he acknowledged that he could fight but not stop extradition. So he will plead guilty.

He took off on a farewell tour. And now he has announced on his MySpace blog that he wants 420 demonstrations around the world on the Saturday before he is sentenced. He expects to be sentenced in October.

Just in case you can't decide what to write on your sign, Emery has provided some suggestions. "Free Marc Emery" is a natural, of course.

Or "Free out/the leader of the cannabis culture, Marc Emery" if you wish.

I would love to come out swinging for Emery. He shouldn't go to jail. Marijuana should be taxed and regulated. But someone who declares himself the leader of a culture, a prince, and worthy of hundreds of celebrations/demonstrations in his honor needs no extra attention. You know, except for this blog post.

Tip from Will in Seattle

Comments (15) RSS

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It's the pot CULTURE that is making getting Marijuana legalized such a pain in the ass. If these burnt out fucking hippies would just curl up and die already we could get some progress.

Posted by Joh on July 21, 2009 at 4:56 PM

Awesome.

A perfect example of why the left loses.

He's doing what you need, on your side, advancing your cause, but you don't like his style - so to hell with him. Just because he went to the wall for your cause and will be spending years in jail for it doesn't mean that you should show any support for him.

Fuck him - right? He asked for it. Of course, that's what you do when you want to change things, and not just whine about it.

But whatever, it doesn't matter if you walk the talk if you have the wrong shoes.

Posted by John Galt on July 21, 2009 at 4:57 PM

Oh, and even worse, he likes Ron Paul.

FML.

http://www.cannabisculture.com/v2/files/…

Posted by Joh on July 21, 2009 at 4:57 PM

@2 See #3.

Thanks.

Posted by Joh on July 21, 2009 at 5:00 PM

Yeah - I wonder if that is because Ron Paul is one of the only national figures that is on his side regarding the legalization of pot?

You think? But again, feel free to toss him under the bus because he doesn't pass your purity test.

Posted by John Galt on July 21, 2009 at 5:05 PM

@2 - while John Galt is a prick and obviously read too many proto-fascist books by Ayn Rand, he's right in this instance.

We're long on words here in Seattle and danged short on action.

Posted by Will in Seattle

on July 21, 2009 at 5:13 PM

"You brought that shit on yourself."

This is the same justification that's been given for almost every abuse of civil rights in the history of mankind, including countless rapes, wife beatings, and fag-bashings. And you trot this bullshit line out as an indictment of someone selling pot seeds?

Congratulations - stupidest slog post ever.

Posted by seandr on July 21, 2009 at 5:53 PM

Yeah he's an egomaniac but he's one of **very** few marijuana activists out there who's actually willing to get shit done. He operated his business completely in the open, even filed his taxes with "Mail-order marijuana seed sales". He's been fighting the fight longer than most of his fans (and even his wife!) have been alive and he's been doing it with the silver tongue of a practiced business man or politician. Again, yeah he's an egomaniac but I believe he deserves to exercise every bit of it.

Posted by sven forkbeard on July 21, 2009 at 5:53 PM

Marc Emery is an embarrassment. The fact that he was born in my home town of London, Ontario and re-located to my current town of Vancouver just makes me more icked out. Pot can be fun, but it's not something to build a culture around. Anyone not stoned who walks through the 420 party at the Vancouver Art Gallery knows that. Sheesh.

If you're going to be a martyr, you should be a martyr for something that matters. Pot doesn't need martyrs. It needs reasoned advocates who can argue their cause without coming off as total... potheads.

Posted by Jocelyn

on July 21, 2009 at 5:54 PM

@7,

The sale and use of drugs is not a civil rights issue.

Congratulations - stupidest comment ever.

Posted by keshmeshi on July 21, 2009 at 6:09 PM

@10: what?! I would say that the right to do what one wants with one's body (mind) is a fundamental civil liberty or right. It may seem like an extreme analogy to you, but if someone suggested to you that abortion was not a civil rights/liberties issue, you'd flip.

"Keep your laws off my body" cuts in a lot of different directions.

Posted by gnossos on July 21, 2009 at 6:19 PM

" Emery spent years fighting federal prosecutors after his marijuana-seed business in Vancouver, B.C., got him busted by agents with the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration in 2005. " WHAT?

I thought Canada was a sovereign nation: one where only the RCMP are allowed to bust people for drug use and kill people at the airport with a taser. Guess the RCMP seconded the drug busts as they're busy with the tasers....

Posted by Theo Magyar

on July 21, 2009 at 6:24 PM

Something tells me he won't have any trouble finding people to smoke a bowl on a Saturday.

Posted by stevema14420

on July 21, 2009 at 6:31 PM

@12 I'm sure if he was selling marijuana seeds to customers in the US the DEA could get involved.

Posted by care bear on July 21, 2009 at 7:21 PM

@10
"The sale and use of drugs is not a civil rights issue."

Oh really? So access to medicine is not a civil rights issue? RU-486 is not a civil rights issue? Prohibition is not a civil rights issue?

The ACLU and everyone else who understands the meaning of "civil liberties" begs to differ.

I'm curious what exactly you think civil rights are.

Posted by seandr on July 21, 2009 at 8:52 PM