Marc Emery, dubbed the “Prince of Pot” by the American media, says he is being run out of Vancouver by the City Hall and the police department. He already has a political campaign office (B.C. Marijuana Party), a magazine (Cannabis Culture) and a retail store based on West Hastings Street in downtown Vancouver, but when it comes to obtaining a license for another business (a convenience store across the street from his other businesses,) he can’t get passed the red tape.

For anyone who’s heard of Marc Emery this news isn’t so surprising.  He’s apparently had a target on his back for a while — since the DEA began investigating another business of his — selling marijuana seeds on the Internet. Emery did this for a decade before he was even on the radar of the United States government. If it wasn’t for his marijuana activism, he may have even stayed under the radar.

The U.S. government claims that his seeds are responsible for over 1,000,000 pounds of pot being grown in the United States. Emery is currently fighting extradition to the United States, where he may face a long sentence in a U.S. Federal prison. The only thing with that is, the US can’t extradite a Canadian citizen for political reasons due to a clause within the extradition treaty. With Emery’s “Overgrow the Government” movement and marijuana activism it puts him in a grey area.

It’s curious to note that since zeroing in on Emery, the DEA has had offices opened in Canada, including Vancouver. They claim they have no jurisdiction and are just there in a laison capacity. Could Canada be reversing it’s stance on marijuana? If the DEA is in town, that lax attitude towards marijuana may be replaced with busting down doors and dragging people into jail. If that’s the case the tourism in the Vancouver may just come to a halt. It might become a ghost town if Emery closes his busninesses and marijuana is  recriminalized under Canadian law.

In the past all the businesses were registered under the B.C. Marijuana Party, but Emery said all that has changed.

Emery said:

We’ve complied with every government order, renovation order, health order, safety order. We are completely compliant every time they have a request.

They can’t say we are a bad business, but they are just looking for every possible reason to deny us a licence to get rid of us in advance of the Olympics.

This [the Olympics] is why all this pressure is on. The police are trying to get rid of all their antagonists. This is all police-driven.

He was rejected because he has a criminal record for a marijuana-related offense. City Hall then demanded he get business licences for his other enterprises, but he was denied, Emery said. He is appealing those rulings.

We have millions of supporters. We draw thousands of tourists to this block. So in the days leading up to our licence application we are going to make sure the phones at City Hall are flooded days in advance.

Naturally, no one from Vancouver City Hall was available to comment on the case.

Not a lot of people can claim they grow marijuana for the federal government.
Actually, only one person can.

Mahmoud A. ElSohly, 62, is a researcher for the National Institute of Drug Abuse, and oversees the only federally-approved marijuana grow operation in the United States. ElSohly grows over 100 varieties of our favorite botanical at the University of Mississippi “garden.”

The Marijuana Project started in 1968, provides marijuana to federal patients (four remaining from a program that was closed in 1992) and those select few corporations with permits from NIDA and the DEA to use marijuana.

The NY Times article is an interesting Q&A that touches on one subject we covered earlier this week – lack of government-grown strain potency.

Check out what Mahmoud had to say about genetics:

Q. SO OUT THERE IN RURAL NORTHERN CALIFORNIA, HAVE THEY BEEN IMPROVING THEIR CROPS WITH MODERN GENETICS?

A. They have been doing genetic selection for years. You can see the potency keeps going up. In the 1970s, the seized marijuana had probably 1 percent or less of the active ingredient. Now, it’s about 8 percent, on the average.

We know for a fact that THC content can reach as high as 25% on some strains, that’s not including hash, oils or crystalized trichromes. Still, this seems like a pretty cool gig, let’s hope he has some colleagues in a few years time.

A University of Massachusetts professor was denied a petition by the DEA to grow medical marijuana strictly for research purposes. The professor failed to prove that the government’s monopoly on the drug’s growth was inadequate in creating supply for study.

Lyle Craker, a horticulturalist, applied for the permit in 2001, citing government-grown pot as not being potent enough to conduct accurate studies of the drug’s effects.

His cause has gained support from local legislators, Massachusetts Sens. Edward Kennedy and John Kerry, have supported his cause, and the state recently decriminalized possession of the drug. DEA attorneys defended governmental pot, saying a Mississippi growing center provides strong enough weed for valid research across the country.

It’s interesting to see Massachusetts as such a hotbed for marijuana activity. If only this doctor was allowed to grow his own Christmas Kush, he’d know just how potent marijuana can get.

The BC3 needs your help.

Marc Emery, Michelle Rainey, and Greg Williams are Canadians heavily involved in American anti-prohibition activism for the last 10 years, though remained in Canada throughout. All three are now facing lengthy sentences in federal prison for their pro-marijuana activism.

Emery recently had a plea deal arranged with the American and Canadian governments, where he agreed to serve five years for his part in a running a company that was at one point thought to be the largest importer of marijuana seeds in North America.

Emery was planning to use the time to work for the movement, his political party and a campaign to “overgrow the government” while in prison, and has said several times he has come to terms with the eventuality.

At the last minute however, the Canadian government reneged on the deal and now Emery will have to face another extradition trial June 9, 2009.

Marc had no business outlets in the USA, and never went to the USA to conduct seed transactions. Everything was done openly and transparently in Vancouver, BC. Marc even paid Revenue Canada and Revenue BC half a million dollars in taxes for his income as a “marijuana seed vendor.”

If you wish, here’s the number for Canada’s Minister of Justice to show support or voice your opinion: (613) 957-4222

As the article points out:

If Canadians have broken the law in Canada, they should be given a fair jury trial in Canada. If they wouldn’t face any severe imprisonment in Canada for the charges laid, they should not be extradited to another country to face possible life imprisonment for those same charges.

Turns out that government agencies don’t like being called out on their absolute failures. What a surprise right? Since the ONDCP (Office of National Drug Control Policy) hasn’t come close to achieving its stated goals, the top brass has decided to just say they have and hope no one does a fact check.

People such as Scott Burns, the Deputy ONDCP Director, are saying that drug use in America is down dramatically since 2001. Hmmm, not according to the National Survey on Drug Use and Health.

A recent article on AlterNet cites just a few of the failures of the Bush administration’s drug policy:

ONDCP has not even come close to meeting its goal of reducing illegal drug use by 25 percent by 2007 in any age group. In fact, among adults, overall illegal drug use actually increased 4.7% from 2002 to 2007. Teen marijuana use is down a bit but still remains common: One in nine (12 percent) 14- and 15-year-olds and one in four (23.7 percent) 16- and 17-year-olds used marijuana in 2007.

Nothing spells success like ~25% of teenagers having admitted to pot use! Or how about getting contradicted by your own government’s studies? Ouch.

The best part is the amount of taxpayer dollars this agency has wasted since drug czar John Walters’ ascension to the position. Here’s what the ONDCP has commissioned since the start of his reign:

• 127 anti-marijuana TV, radio and print ads
• 34 marijuana-focused press releases
• 50 studies from the ONDCP (and other govt. agencies) for anti-marijuana campaigns

All in all, this is another lesson in the manipulation of statistics. Just like the issue on marijuana busts and street pricing, the government is taking faulty data and using it to improperly shore up their anti-drug arguments.

Fight back by learning the facts.

[image via WWNYTV.net]

In the latest bout by federal drug enforcement officials to propagate the war on drugs, they claim to have found the largest marijuana plants, ever.

The article, brought to you by the fine people at Stopthedrugwar, goes on to further explain why some of the governments claims about marijuana busts they make, are based on street value. Moreover, the yield claims are greatly exaggerated and sometimes scientifically impossible.

Per Stopthedrugwar.org:

Cops often inflate the weight of their yield by using the fresh weight instead of the dry weight of the plants, BTW, so the most typical inflation is 400%; in other words, their alleged 10 pounds is most likely to weigh about 2.5 pounds, based on the typical cop exaggeration.

Obviously, these exaggerations make the police and their anti-drug efforts seem much more effective than they actually are. What a surprise.

This particular “Top 10″ details several studies that completely backfired on the government, like one that disproved the “gateway effect” and the inefficiency of prohibition. Also including, a few other lies that have been the government’s crutch to propagate its war on drugs.

See for yourself, but I bet you already suspected as much.

After checking out LA Pop Art’s awesome Marijuana Leaf Poster, we decided to find the complete list as maintained by the government.

All 647 “street terms” are included, and man are some of them unbelievably lame. Anyway, check out the list if you want a good laugh. Just make sure the police don’t catch you smoking any “rough stuff” or “panama cut”.

[via White House Drug Policy]

LA Pop Art is selling an exclusive marijuana leaf poster created by using the official U.S. Government list of 647 marijuana “street terms”.

As described by LA Pop Art:

So you think you have heard every name out there for Marijuana?? Some are funny, some creative and some are out there – but what people dont know is that the United States Government keeps an official list of all these names. And surprisingly enough over the years, this official list has grown to a shocking 647 official “street terms” for Marijuana.

Upon discovering this list, we here at LA Pop Art felt that we had a “responsibility” to you – our customers – to turn this list into a big ass Marijuana leaf. Enjoy!!

The poster is currently offered at 24″ x 30″ with a $13.99 price tag. Not a bad investment if you commonly find yourself staring at blank walls and going crazy with eye-bleeding boredom.

A novelty item like this will definitely jazz up some of that bleakness. Plus, if you have parents, it’s an educational tool. Right?