Marc & Jodie Emery charged with drug trafficking

Marc and Jodie Emery charged with drug trafficking, conspiracy, possession - Toronto - CBC News:

March 9, 2017 - "Toronto police have charged Canada's so-called Prince of Pot, Marc Emery, and wife Jodie, with drug trafficking, conspiracy and possession after they were arrested at Pearson International Airport on Wednesday night.... On Thursday, with the couple still in custody at Toronto police's 51 Division, law enforcement officers in three Canadian cities raided marijuana shops belonging to the Emerys....

"Mark Pugash, spokesperson for the Toronto Police Service, said seven Cannabis Culture locations — five in Toronto, one in Hamilton and another in Vancouver — were searched on Thursday along with two homes in Toronto, one in Stoney Creek, Ont., and one in Vancouver.

"In addition to the Emerys, police charged three other people associated with the couple on Thursday. Chris Goodwin, 37, and Erin Goodwin, 31, both of Toronto, and Britney Guerra, 29, of Stoney Creek, Ont., face charges that include conspiracy to commit an indictable offence. The Goodwins are co-owners of the Cannabis Culture shop on Church Street in Toronto....

"Pugash would not discuss why Cannabis Culture, which sells recreational marijuana, was the target of the operation in a city with dozens of marijuana shops....

"Emery and his wife run about a dozen marijuana shops in Canada under the Cannabis Culture banner. Marc Emery was released from a U.S. prison in 2014 after spending just over four years behind bars on charges of selling marijuana seeds in the United States."

Read more: http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/toronto/emerys-arrested-airport-1.4017105
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Emery endorses Maxime Bernier for Tory leader

Marc Emery Endorses Maxime Bernier For Conservative Leader - Ryan Maloney:

September 15, 2016 - "A Conservative leadership contender is welcoming the endorsement of Canada's so-called 'Prince of Pot.'

"Quebec MP Maxime Bernier, whose campaign is built around libertarian principles, won over notorious British Columbia-based marijuana activist Marc Emery on Wednesday.

"A spokesperson for Bernier's campaign says it is another example of the big tent Bernier is trying to construct.

"'Mr. Bernier is trying to build the largest possible coalition of Conservatives, and people who have never voted for the CPC, in order to win this campaign and defeat Justin Trudeau,' Maxime Hupé, the Bernier campaign's director of communications, told The Huffington Post Canada in an email....

"Emery's endorsement will raise eyebrows. The activist called former prime minister Stephen Harper a 'tyrant' in 2014 when he returned to Canada after serving a prison sentence in the United States for selling marijuana seeds.... Tories mocked Emery in an online attack ad and MPs also blasted him the House of Commons as a 'criminal and drug dealer'....

"Emery told 580CFRA radio host Evan Solomon Wednesday that he is a libertarian and agrees with 'every single policy position' Bernier has taken so far.

"'I've been waiting for a Conservative candidate in this country for 30, 40 years who wasn't anchored to all these backwards social conservative things that are settled policy, like abortion, like same-sex marriage,' Emery said....

"He said he doesn't even know what Bernier's pot position is — and doesn't care.... 'To me, legalizing marijuana is a settled policy,' he said, adding that he thinks Bernier's position on the drug will be nuanced and consistent with libertarian principles....

"Since forming government, Trudeau's Liberals have pledged to introduce legislation to legalize marijuana, but have not budged on calls from New Democrats to decriminalize the drug in the meantime."

Read more: http://www.huffingtonpost.ca/2016/09/15/marc-emery-maxime-bernier-conservative-leadership_n_12029026.html
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Liberals veto Jodie Emery as federal candidate

Liberals send a message by refusing to allow Jodie Emery to seek nomination in Vancouver East | Georgia Straight, Vancouver's News & Entertainment Weekly - Charlie Smith:

January 17, 2015 - "The news that came over Jodie Emery's Twitter feed was terse and direct.

"'At 3:58pm I received an email from the Liberal Green Light Committee informing me they are not recommending me to be a nomination candidate,' she wrote.

"Emery, wife of marijuana-legalization crusader Marc Emery, had hoped to become the Liberal candidate in Vancouver East.

"She went through the usual bureaucracy that comes with seeking a nod from a federal party.

"Emery demonstrated that she doesn't have a criminal record. She certainly has a long history of involvement in community issues. But apparently, that didn't satisfy party apparatchiks.

"So her opportunity to seek a nomination was nixed.

"The news was leaked late on a Friday afternoon to minimize media coverage.

"Despite the lack of respect shown Emery, she will still support the Liberals in the next election because they're the only major party promising legalization of marijuana."

Read more: http://www.straight.com/news/808266/liberals-send-message-refusing-allow-jodie-emery-seek-nomination-vancouver-east
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Emery planning revenge on Harper government

Marc Emery’s reefer revenge just might work - Kevin Broker, The Province:

August 7, 2014 - "'Revenge!' Now there’s an anguished utterance you normally expect only to hear in bad Shakespeare parodies. Not last week, however, when Marc Emery, Canada’s so-called Prince of Pot, ... said: 'My own government betrayed me and I’m going to wreak an appropriate amount of political revenge when I get home and campaign against the Conservative government.'

"Emery served nearly five years for the crime of selling seeds, 'chained and shackled every inch of the way,' and, obviously, he isn’t about to forgive and forget....

"Emery is now poised to re-enter his chosen life’s work of cannabis activism in the most significant way possible, by threatening to turn the next federal election into a single-issue referendum on legalizing cannabis. He and his many supporters are planning to campaign for the Liberals and will thus hold Justin Trudeau’s feet to the fire regarding his pledge to end the legal morass that is cannabis prohibition.

"Emery’s team already has 30 rallies planned across the country, surely with many more to come. His plan is to energize young voters on what will be framed as a civil-rights cause, irrespective of their personal relationship to cannabis....

"The Tories, of course, will take every opportunity to disparage him, as they already have, as 'a drug dealer who just got out of jail.'

"But as the next few months unfurl, I suspect we will see Emery quietly absorbed into the Liberal fold. After all, he has buckets of money, commitment and organization. The prospect of him stumping for their brand could do the Liberals a huge favour, whether they admit it or not."

Read more: http://www.theprovince.com/health/Guest+column+Marc+Emery+reefer+revenge+just+might+work/10097693/story.html
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The 'prince of pot' returns to Canada

Marc Emery, 'prince of pot,' arrives in Windsor, Ont. - Windsor - CBC News:

August 12, 2014 - "Marc Emery, the self-proclaimed 'prince of pot,' has arrived in Windsor, Ont., after his release from a U.S. prison....

"Emery was handed a five-year sentence in the U.S. for selling marijuana seeds to American clients from his Vancouver-based company, Cannabis Culture. After spending just over four years behind bars, he was released Tuesday and flown from a facility in Louisiana to Detroit, where he crossed the border to Windsor.

"In a personal blog, Emery ... spoke about his plans to campaign for the legalization of marijuana through to the date of the next federal election.

"'You know people diminish our impact as voters as cannabis culture, but cannabis culture, is about three to four million Canadians and we are potentially the largest voting block in Canada... So I think we are a marginalized, underrepresented and underestimated voting block, and we can really make a big difference,' said Emery.

"He said he has a university tour booked in Canada starting in Jan. 2015 and will begin a 30-city Canadian tour on Sept.10, 2015 and continue until Oct. 17, the day before the next scheduled federal election.....

"Emery, who has vowed to seek political revenge against the Conservative government for its role in his extradition, plans several speaking engagements, including one in Toronto, before returning to his home on the West Coast on Sunday."

Read more: http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/windsor/marc-emery-prince-of-pot-arrives-in-windsor-ont-1.2734051
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'Princess of Pot' seeks Liberal nomination in BC

Canada's 'Princess of Pot' takes shot at federal politics | CTV Vancouver News - Penny Daflos:

June 24, 2014 - "One of the country’s biggest advocates in the push to legalize marijuana has a new plan to take her fight to Ottawa.

"The so-called 'Princess of Pot' Jodie Emery – the wife of jailed marijuana activist Marc Emery – intends to run for the Liberal nomination in East Vancouver.

"'I think with the Liberal party endorsing legalization, the benefit is just too great for all Canadians. I have to put my name behind endorsing that party,' she told CTV News....

"Emery ran as the Green candidate in Vancouver-Fraserview in the 2009 B.C. provincial election.

"'I don't really know where to pin myself. I have run with the Green Party, but I'm a fiscal conservative. I could be called a Libertarian, I am a capitalist. I do believe in taxpayer-funded education, healthcare and some other basic necessities but I think there's a lot of waste in government," she said....

"Federal Liberal Leader Justin Trudeau's announcement last year that he supports regulating and taxing marijuana changed things for Emery.

"With the Tories attacking Trudeau and sticking with their hard line anti-pot policy, it seems a natural fit for Emery to join forces with the Grits."

Read more: http://bc.ctvnews.ca/canada-s-princess-of-pot-takes-shot-at-federal-politics-1.1883104
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Libertarian Paul Geddes wants freedom from government intervention

Libertarian Paul Geddes wants freedom from government intervention - Jennifer McFee, Coquitlam Now, Apr. 20, 2011:

“The other parties are all trying to run my life in different ways. The Conservatives are impinging on my personal life. They’ve locked up the Canadian Libertarian hero Marc Emery. He’s in the United States right now because the Conservative government believes that they have a right to tell you what to do in your personal life,' said Geddes, who once ran as a Marijuana Party candidate.

"'I can’t vote for the NDP and Greens because they want to do the same thing the Conservatives are doing to my pocketbook. They think that I don’t have a right to keep what I earn. They want to regulate my whole life and how I earn my living, so I’m opposed to both of them.

"'I have no idea what [the Liberals] stand for. We just know that whatever they run, they won’t do it when they get in.'"

Read more:  http://www.thenownews.com/news/Libertarian+Paul+Geddes+wants+freedom+from+government+intervention/4648990/story.html

Libertarian Party of Canada     http://libertarian.ca