ARREST OF EMERYS TARNISHES JUSTICE IN CANADA
Persecution of pot providers makes no sense with legalization supposedly on its way
It is always darkest before the dawn — and those who have waited nearly a century for the light of cannabis legalization may find solace in the proverb.
With the federal government set to abolish the criminal prohibition on recreational use of marijuana, Toronto police have thrown pot royalty in jail.
They called it Project Gator — a cross-country operation to put the bite on the most celebrated ganja couple since Cheech and Chong.
Marc and Jodie Emery, a.k.a. the Prince and Princess of Pot, were arrested Wednesday night on trafficking charges as they emerged from an Uber car at Toronto’s Pearson International Airport en route to the Barcelona Spannabis festival.
The Emerys remain in custody pending a bail hearing Friday.
Cannabis activists Chris and Erin Goodwin, and Britney Guerra were also arrested, Emery’s Vancouver lawyer Kirk Tousaw said.
“Shameful,” he added. “History will judge us poorly for this immoral and unjust war on peaceful people and a simple, beneficial plant. These are good people.”
After they came to power in October of 2015, I expected the Liberals to make a hash of their legalization election promise; the Toronto police are proving the point.
How can any police department on the eve of legalization be criminally charging people, especially over conduct for which the City of Vancouver issues business licences?
The Constitution is supposed to have guarantees against the unequal and capricious application of the law.
But Prime Minister Justin Trudeau says until the prohibition is officially ended, “the current law remains the law,” even if cities like Vancouver flout it.
On Thursday, search warrants were executed in Toronto, Hamilton and Vancouver targeting dispensaries and Emery’s Cannabis Culture headquarters.
“Co-ordinated countrywide raids attempting, futilely, to enforce an outdated and harmful law degrades public confidence in the administration of justice, wastes valuable taxpayer funds, wastes scarce police, prosecutorial and judicial resources and benefits precisely no one,” Tousaw said, fuming.
For more than a quartercentury, Emery has been in the vanguard of the North American free-the-weed movement.
Jodie joined him in his crusade after the turn of the century and they were married on July 23, 2006, in a smoke-filled celebration I attended.
In 2014, Marc was released from U.S. custody after serving more than four years in prison because of his catalogue seed-selling business.
I can understand why hick cops would want to bust Emery — it generates big headlines even if it looks like ridiculous grandstanding.
What makes Emery’s stores more offensive than the scores of others that pockmark the land?
“This latest salvo in Canada’s senseless war on cannabis and cannabis consumers is a moral outrage and has no place in a free and democratic society,” Tousaw said.
“The Canadian public has supported legalization for many years. Our government has finally got around to moving, slowly, toward ending prohibition after at least 45 years of studies, royal commissions, government reports and other evidence that legalization is the only rational, compassionate and sensible policy option. And, yet, good people continue to be arrested, locked into cages and have their liberty infringed in the pursuit of our immoral and senseless war. Make no mistake, this is not about public safety.”
Although American states blazed the trail to legalization in 2012, the Liberals still haven’t introduced the legislation they vowed to pass.
Maybe we shouldn’t be surprised given former Toronto top cop Bill Blair, the parliamentary secretary on the pot issue, sounded like a character from Reefer Madness — more Unreconstructed Drug Warrior than pioneer of legalization.
Ottawa’s foot-dragging has created a situation where illegal pot is sold like lattes, putting retailers and thousands of otherwise law-abiding Canadian consumers at risk of prosecution, prison and a life-altering record. Instead of all but encouraging these feckless prosecutions that tarnish the administration of justice, why haven’t the Liberals just got on with legalization?
“We made a commitment last April that we would introduce legislation in the spring of 2017,” federal Health Minister Jane Philpott told reporters on Thursday.
“I know spring is around the corner and spring runs until June 21, and we are firm in our commitment to having that legislation in place.”