The Prince of Pot, Marc Emery, is saying goodbye to Canada by way of a “fairwell tour”, scheduled to make its mark in 32 cities, before he is extradited to the U.S. for selling cannabis seeds to U.S. customers.

On Sunday, Emery began the tour in Calgary saying:

I’m being taken to a U.S. prison for something I did in Canada as innocuous as selling seeds, which don’t even have any drug quality, and yet I have to face a five year term for that. [...] It’s difficult to say what will happen in a U.S. federal penitentiary. It’s never very pleasant. American jails aren’t run nearly as well as Canadian jails. [...] I’m going away for a long time so I expect everybody to do their best and pick up the slack for me.

Emery is referring to the fight coming up in form of bill C-15, a federal bill that would impose mandatory minimum sentences for marijuana in Canada. The bill has already passed the House of Commons and it is now in the hands of the Senate. Emery advises activists to back the NDP, the Bloc, and the Green Party — all pro-cannabis political parties.

Emery’s fairwell tour continues in Saskatoon on Wednesday and Edmonton on Thursday.

As usual, before the Prince of Pot begins talking, we see him toking — yet this time it seems as if he’s more mentally exhausted than ever. His slouched body language and empty stare into the camera tell us that this man has a lot on his mind these days, issues that have been haunting him since the DEA made him their personal pet project by declaring him one of the top 50 drug traffickers of the world.

Emery and his wife Jodie, deliver the sad news that Cannabis Culture magazine has ceased print publication. The main reasons were the cost (every issue lost $40,000), finding printers and the fact that the articles within the magazine would already be covered by various sources online by the time the magazine was released.

Despite the end of the print form of the Cannabis Culture magazine, they are redirecting their energy into concentrating on their online website Cannabis Culture, and having different people in the scene participating. If interested in the remainder stock of back issues of Cannabis Culture magazine, they are being sold in a bundle package (60 issues) for $100. All of the back issues are also in the archives of their website.

Despite the city of Vancouver’s attempt to shut down his storefront businesses or at least wrapping it up with bureaucratic red tape, Emery still seems to be in somewhat good spirits. He’s willing to basque in the spotlight for his supporters — that is until the dark cloud of the U.S. federal government moves in.

There was somewhat good news on the case against Emery’s friends and employees, Michelle Rainey and Gregory Keith Williams who plead guilty to conspiracy to manufacture marijuana (a charge stemming back to the days when Emery’s seed bank was in operation,) are to be sentenced to two years of probation in July.

As for Emery, his lawyer basically told him he doesn’t have a snowball’s chance in hell in not being expedited to the United States. Once here in the states, he will be stuck here by a sneaky stipulation that will force him to pay whatever fine he is subjected to before he can even think about serving x-amount of time in Canada. He plans to plead guilty to one count of marijuana distribution, which doesn’t have a minimum sentencing or fines. The feds want to give Emery five to eight years and Emery plans to receive less.

Like a true master of the matrix, Emery plans on using his cultural influence and his supporters to pimp the system, particularly when it comes to social networking. His idea is to have people contact the federal judge in an effort to give testimonials or essays on why they should be lenient with sentencing. Unfortunately for Emery, if the government has made this much of an effort to convict him, then they plan to make him an example that the drug war is still on. If that’s the case, I’m sure that they will cover their bases and assign a judge to the case that may not be able to be influenced by any outside sources or parties.

U.S. drug officials call him one of the top 50 drug traffickers in the world, having been attributed to helping $2.2 billion worth of pot being grown. Marc Emery, the self-proclaimed Prince of Pot, has had a target on his back since the last days that his company, Emery Seeds, had been selling cannabis seeds via mail order to buyers world-wide.

I had a very good reason for selling those seeds. [...] I wanted to defeat the U.S. war on drugs.

Two of his employees had already plead guilty for their involvement and both are awaiting sentencing in July, where two years probation was recommended. It’s apparent that they didn’t want the little fish, just Moby Dick. 

After being arrested 21 times and going to jail another 17, you’d think Emery would lay low. Still being an activist and involving himself politically on the front of marijuana legalization, Emery, leader of the Overgrow the Government movement, is a big whale, perhaps one of the largest out there.

Emery is also ready to become a martyr to the cause:

Dying as a victim of the state’s cruelty would really help a person like me. The way you die is very important. [...] Martin Luther King was killed and that’s very important to his legacy.

Emery agreed that he would plead guilty in Seattle to one count of distributing marijuana if all other counts are dismissed. Apparently the U.S. District Attorney is gunning for a sentence of five to eight years in a U.S. prison. Emery thinks August will be the magic date and after his sentencing, he’s planning on having all his supporters rally to have him be moved to a Canadian prison.

Two former employees of Marc Emery — Michelle Rainey, 38, and Gregory Keith Williams pled guilty in a Seattle court for the conspiracy to manufacture marijuana. On July 17th, at their sentence hearing the U.S. Lawyers plan to recommend two years probation.

The United States Attorney’s Office says that between 2003-2005, Rainey, under Emery’s business, sold marijuana seeds and growing instructions — with three quarters of the orders going to the United States. Williams, during that time, took phone orders and sold seeds to customers at Emery’s store.

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.

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.

An internationally known pot and personal freedoms activist, Marc Emery refers to himself as Canada’s “Crown Prince of Pot” for his outspoken opposition to marijuana laws everywhere. Opposition which has garnered much attention for his cause and ire from law enforcement from B.C. to D.C..

Emery has been a constant voice of opposition to police tactics which he says violate basic human rights on a consistent basis. His most recent article warns of “Creeping Jackboots” in reference to recent laws passed in Canada which allow for “electricity police” and officials to enter an individual’s home without warrant based on suspicion.

For years, Emery has been famous and troubled in the United States for his business which was for a time the largest importer of marijuana seeds into the country. In a recent High Times interview, he said most of the money went to his political party, and a campaign he started to try and “overgrow the government,” in hopes to make law enforcement efforts at crop eradication futile with a prodigious growing effort.

Despite the fact that national media exposure only seems to bring increased scrutiny by law enforcement officials, Emery continues to argue vigorously for his cause.

The Global Marijuana March is coming. Saturday, May 5th 2007, mark your calendars!

The Prince of Pot himself, Marc Emery has been invited to lead The 2007 Global Marijuana March in Toronto, Ontario. Since the event is scheduled for world-wide exposure, the march will take place in more than 233 cities across the planet. The goals of the rallies are to raise awareness and demand the legalization of marijuana, for good.

Others attendees such as Michelle Rainey and Greg Williams will host another march located in Vancouver, BC. Their names may sound a little familiar because they (including Marc Emery) are fighting against US extradition for selling cannabis seeds for nearly ten years. If convicted, they potentially face life sentences. Extradition hearings begin May 28th, 2007 – find out what you can do to help the BC3.

Come out and support our culture!

[via Cannabis Culture]

The Video

Marc Emery on CBC TV: This video shows why Marc Emery is the premier face of the legalization movement. He’s intelligent, well-spoken and just sounds like a cool guy to smoke out with. On top of that, he makes some great points about the US government, extradition and legalization in general.

Art Army Action Figures: These awesome and insanely detailed action figures are the product of Michael Leavitt’s skilled hands. Made out of synthetic clay and elastic, these 6″ to 12″ tall figures pay homage to all types of famous artists – both dead and alive. [via Wooster Collective]

A taste-o-graphic journey of KitKat design & variety [via tsogb]
DJ Gelman – when music and design come together [via Ping Mag]
Funny animation all about another type of green leaf [via Haha.nu]
An examination of different approaches to record sleeve design [via e-CR]
The most badass bath tub in all of Badassdom [via BornRich]
A huge dose of SEMA show hotness + cars galore [via Autoblog]

theFreshScent would like to congratulate Marc Emery on his recent wedding to Jodie Emery. We wish Marc and Jodie nothing but the best. Here’s to a long, happy life and a successful marriage.

Cheers, Marc!