Pot activists released on bail after police raids
Prominent marijuana activists Marc and Jodie Emery, who co-own the Cannabis Culture brand, were granted bail Friday after their arrest on Wednesday.
Marc Emery faces 15 charges, including conspiracy to commit an indictable offence, trafficking and possession of proceeds of crime, while Jodie Emery faces five similar counts.
Police seized $250,000 in cash in several currencies after searching Cannabis Culture stores across the country and several homes.
Toronto police spokesman Mark Pugash said seven Cannabis Culture locations — five in Toronto, one in Hamilton and one in Vancouver — were searched Thursday along with two homes in Toronto, one in Stoney Creek and one in Vancouver.
The Emerys appeared in a Toronto courtroom Friday afternoon and were granted bail with several conditions, including a ban on possessing or consuming marijuana and other drugs without a prescription.
They were also barred from going to any Cannabis Culture location or other dispensary, and from facilitating or participating in running any Cannabis Culture shop.
“This is my 30th arrest,” Marc Emery said, to cheers from his support- ers gathered outside Old City Hall.
“I’ve been raided six times, and yet, over all these years, we’ve made progress,” he said, in reference to his decades-long crusade to see marijuana legalized.
Officers seized more than 65 ki- lograms of marijuana, 2.4 kilograms of cannabis extract and other drug paraphernalia.
“We’ve been on the front lines of legalization advocacy for 20-plus years,” Jodie Emery said. “Legalization is coming, and it’s because of people like us, and for us to face these incredibly unjust penalties and punishments is just wrong.”
The Emerys, purportedly en route to a cannabis expo in Spain, were arrested at Pearson airport Wednesday evening. Police staged the coordinated raids on Thursday.
Three others were charged as part of the Toronto police-led pot offensive called Project Gator.
Toronto police are accusing Cannabis Culture dispensaries of being part of a large franchise operation involving alleged high-level drug traffickers. Acting Insp. Steve Watts alleges the franchises can only be supplied by “illegitimate sources,” often tied to organized crime, given the amount of marijuana sold.
Meanwhile, Federal Health Minister Jane Philpott said Thursday that the government remains committed to introducing legislation to legalize marijuana this spring, though it will still be subject to a rigorous parliamentary and regulatory process.
Until that happens, authorities, including city of Toronto officials, insist only Health Canada-approved patients are legally allowed to buy pot from federally regulated distributors, via mail or courier.
“I think that we can take a great deal of credit, Jodie and I, for the fact that legalization is even being discussed in this country,” Marc said Friday.
The Cannabis Culture brand is used by a chain of 19 marijuana dispensaries in British Columbia, Ontario and Quebec. With files from Ellen Brait, Betsy Powell and Jesse Winter