We Went to Marc Emery’s Welcome Home Party

Marc puffing and chatting inside of Toronto's Vapor Central. All photos via Aaron Wynia.
Marc Emery has been back in Canada for less than 48 hours, and he’s already exhausted.

In 2005, the DEA marched into Canada and arrested Marc on charges pertaining to his marijuana seed-selling business, which made heavy use of the United States Postal Service as part of its distribution network. In 2009, after a lengthy court battle, Marc pleaded guilty, and in 2010, he was sentenced to five years with time served.

During that time, he was bounced from a prison in Georgia to one in Mississippi, he said he read a book a week, learned to play bass, had a subscription to the New York Times and 25 other magazines, was never fucked with by other inmates, and according to him, routinely turned down offers to get high at 4:20 by other inmates, because he was scared of the “terrible, terrible things” that would happen to him if he failed a drug test.

So after that bass-playing, weedless, incarcerated ordeal, Marc returned to Canada on Tuesday to greet a mob of media and marijuana enthusiasts—one of which was dressed like a giant pot leaf—to give a speech in Windsor, Ontario (the port of his return) at 4:20 PM.

It’s been non-stop ever since.

Last night, I arrived at Vapor Central, a weed lounge in downtown Toronto, where several prominent marijuana activists were hosting a welcome home party for Marc. I had heard there was going to be a Marc Emery roast by a gaggle of local comedians starting at seven (that plan was quickly kaiboshed) and at 8 PM, I was told Marc would be arriving. Eight turned to 8:30, as I received text messages from his wife Jodie saying that Marc was in a deep sleep and couldn’t be woken. Unsurprisingly, being fresh out of prison, especially when you’re a cult figure in the Canadian weed community, is a very tiring process.

I finally met Marc in the basement of a gigantic head shop called THC next door to Vapor Central with Damian Abraham—y’know, the guy who screams in Fucked Up—and we went down to the basement, where they store the plant fertilizer, to chop it up about Canada’s new medical marijuana system. (The whole conversation will be online soon in a new episode of our series

).

Marc chatting with Damian Abraham, lead singer of Fucked Up and host of "Canadian Cannabis."

One of the major things we touched on, is Canada’s new medical marijuana system, which you can see the inner workings of in that Canadian Cannabis doc I just mentioned. If you’re not familiar, Canada has embraced a system of “licensed producers,” which are Health Canada-authorized weed manufacturers that are allowed to sell dried buds, and dried buds only, to doctor-approved medical marijuana patients.

That system sounds OK on paper, but it has a long way to go.

The new system, called the Marihuana for Medical Purposes Regulations (MMPR), was originally designed to completely strip the right to grow from medical marijuana users, an intent that has been partially reversed by attorney John Conroy. Plus, by only providing dried buds, it alienates any patient who prefers to ingest cannabis via edible, oil, or juice—the preferred methods for cannabis using children and seniors.

Marc, however, is optimistic about the MMPR. He refers to it as a “compromised increment” towards legalization. And, reminded us that more marijuana is being grown today than ever before. That, Marc says, is a victory. And it’s hard not to see why.

Marc Emery has spent most of his life fighting for marijuana legalization. He’s been pushing for logical laws and reasonable controls on marijuana for so long, that he reminisced over a time when the idea of shutting down a park on April 20 (4/20, duh) to smoke weed all day sounded insanely risky. Marc talks about handing out copies of

in front of police stations when Canada had a ban on marijuana publications. He says he’s been arrested in most Canadian provinces for smoking that cheeba.

Marc autographing a vaporizer.

So, an imperfect, but semi-legalized, marijuana industry in Canada is obviously a big deal to a guy who has been fighting for decades, and who just gave up half a decade of his life for the movement. But it’s hard not to see the rose-coloured optimism as a vehicle for grassroots, political lobbying, serving the larger goals of the Emerys’ own political careers.

During the course of 2014, I spoke to a lot of weed activists for Canadian Cannabis, and many of the most prominent ones are very deliberately getting behind the Liberal party. At the 420 rally in Toronto, chants of “Vote Trudeau” rang out from the stage. Pierre’s son says he’ll legalize if he gets into office, and the Emerys, who appear to have a bittersweet relationship with the Liberals already, are helping to galvanize what they believe is a very powerful Canadian lobby: the stoners.

Even with a mob of marijuana users behind them, the Emery’s advocacy work has not been received with open arms. Marc’s support of the Liberals has been used as an attack point by the Conservatives. Marc got Justin in trouble when he wrote about smoking weed with the Liberal leader in a blog written from prison. Jodie, meanwhile, seems poised to run for the Liberals in the Vancouver East riding, but apparently they’re afraid of getting behind her, because of what the Prince of Pot might say next. It’s a weird situation, but even still, Marc is very much motivated to push weed-lovin’ Canadians to the polls in 2015 to vote Trudeau.

After we finished our interview, we headed up to Vapor Central, where over 300 highly attentive smokers were waiting for Marc to speak. Vapor Central organizers shushed anyone who talked, and scurried towards anyone standing and blocking the view of others to make sure they sat the fuck down. I’d never seen a more attentive crowd of weed smokers in my life.

Marc in front of the Vapor Central crowd.

Following an introduction by his best friend Dana Larsen, the owner of popular weed compassion club, The Dispensary, in Vancouver, and president of the Sensible BC movement, Marc took the stage, flanked by two Canadian flags.

Marc’s supposed exhaustion melted away instantly, as he fed off of the subdued (but clearly engaged) energy in the room. Ostensibly fueled by the sheer excitement people felt from seeing the guy from their “Free Marc” T-shirts and stickers standing before them, a free man, who hasn’t been back to Canada (or gotten high) in over four years, Marc spoke for close to 40 minutes.

He talked about the amount of times he’s been arrested (28), the pundits in the Canadian press who have called him an “idiot” and an “obnoxious jerk” (Warren Kinsella, Margaret Wente), but who could never challenge him on his understanding of the facts, and said that once marijuana was set to be legalized, it will take the Minister of Health “five seconds” to remove it from the schedule of controlled substances.

According to Marc, even at a time where marijuana possession charges are actually on the rise in Canada, the marijuana movement has “never had it this good.” And, in the grand scheme of things, maybe he’s right.

There are now 13 licensed, legally operational, Canadian medical marijuana factories cranking out weed as you read this, which can easily be transitioned to recreational marijuana distributors at the drop of a hat. The writing, it seems, is on the wall, provided the Liberals can win and stick to their promise.

After 35 years of advocacy, it seems as if Marc Emery’s self-appointed job as Canada’s Prince of Pot may nearly be complete. As he prepares to tour the world to speak with politicians and academics about marijuana policy, his job at home might possibly be over soon.

As he himself said last night, if you’re sick of hearing about Marc Emery, or of hearing Marc Emery speak, his time in the spotlight may expire after the next election. And perhaps, at this point in his life, that’s exactly what he wants.

@patrickmcguire