Canadian marijuana advocates are reporting that Marc and Jodie Emery, Canada’s “Prince and Princess of Pot,” were arrested at Pearson International Airport.
What makes these two marijuana royalty — and what’s going on with their arrest?
They’ve earned the title: The pair own Cannabis Culture, a chain of marijuana shops, as well as Cannabis Culture magazine and Pot TV. Jodie ran for provincial office as a B.C. Marijuana Party candidate in 2005 and 2008, as a candidate for the BC Green Party in 2009 and 2013. She’s an outspoken marijuana legalization activist, appearing on television and in print to defend legal weed.
Her husband Marc is also a strident political and social activist. He ran for the Libertarian Party of Canada in the 1980 federal election, ran as a candidate of the Freedom Party in Middlesex, and has been heavily politically involved in campaigning for marijuana legalization as well. He sponsored the Vancouver Tokers Bowl for several years, and launched “the Summer of Legalization” tour in 2003, traveling to 18 cities in Canada to openly smoke in front of police stations in protest.
So yeah, they’re kind of a legal weed power couple. And they’re no strangers to run-ins with the law, either. Marc’s gone to jail a few times, once for “trafficking,” or passing a joint to someone in public. He was sentenced to five years in prison after a raid of the BC Marijuana Party Bookstore and Headquarters in 2005.
And now, the trouble’s back — or it never left. According to the Vancouver Post, around 8 a.m. on Thursday, a dozen police officers raided Marc’s Cannabis Culture. Global News reports multiple raids of dispensaries happening simultaneously.
There isn’t yet a clear reason why the Emerys were arrested this time, but it’s putting them, as well as legalization efforts in Canada, back on top of the public’s consciousness.
