By Mike Howell, Vancouver CourierEver wonder what local marijuana enthusiast Marc Emery is thinking as he spends his days in a federal prison in Washington State?
I asked that question after reading a piece in the New York Times Sunday about the Proposition 19 ballot initiative to legalize and regulate marijuana in California.
The vote was yesterday, after the Courier’s deadline.
As expected, Emery is his effusive self on the issue, stating his opinion on what he has dubbed "Marc’s prison blog." His writings are available for all to see at cannabisculture.com.
"I hope people in our movement did not buy into the propaganda put out by the treasonous miscreants I call ‘Traitors Against Proposition 19,’" Emery wrote in his latest entry from SeaTac prison. "The self-serving prohibition profiteers who have been telling people to vote ‘no’ are disgraceful for trying to defeat what will be the greatest single opportunity for progress in our movement ever. I hope there are more people out there saying ‘vote yes on Proposition 19’ so we can see victory–California becoming the first state to legalize cannabis anywhere on earth!"
Had Emery not been convicted of selling marijuana seeds over the Internet to U.S. customers, you know he would surely be in Oakland, the epicentre of the campaign to legalize weed. He will, however, be involved–by marital extension.
His wife Jodie is in Oakland and has volunteered on the campaign since Sunday, according to Emery’s blog. Cannabis Culture editor Jeremiah Vandermeer joined Jodie on her trip and was expected to be webcasting live Tuesday night from Yes on Prop 19 headquarters in a marijuana trade school dubbed "Oaksterdam."
If the initiative passes, it will be legal for anyone in California over 21 to possess and cultivate small amounts of marijuana but would leave many of the details concerning the sale, production and taxation to local governments, according to the Times article.
A victory for Emery and his fellow potificators (that’s my word) will undoubtedly have an effect on illegal B.C. bud shipments across the border.
Some cops say it will increase shipments, while criminologists predict a positive vote will put a dent in the province’s marijuana trade.
Even if the initiative fails, the groundswell of support–a Gallup poll released last week in the U.S. found a record 46 per cent approving of legalizing marijuana–is expected to stoke the marijuana movement in other states.
Either way, Emery will eventually get a better sense of how Californians feel about legalizing marijuana when the self-proclaimed Prince of Pot is transferred to Taft Correctional Centre in California, about 90 miles northeast of Los Angeles.