Updated: Sun Jul. 05 2009 16:24:59

ctvcalgary.ca

The so-called "Prince of Pot" launched his farewell tour Sunday in Calgary. Marc Emery has given up his long fight to avoid extradition to the U.S. for selling cannabis seeds. He plans to turn himself in to Seattle authorities in the fall, and then he'll likely serve a lengthy prison sentence in an American jail.

Calgary is Emery's first stop on a 32-city farewell tour.

"I'm being taken to a U.S. prison for something I did in Canada as innocuous as selling seeds, which don't even have any drug quality, and yet I have to face a five year term for that."

Emery plans to surrender himself to U.S. authorities in September. He's giving up on his fight to avoid extradition for selling cannabis seeds to customers in the United States.

"It's difficult to say what will happen in a U.S. federal penitentiary. It's never very pleasant. American jails aren't run nearly as well as Canadian jails."

And Emery would know: he's been arrested more than a dozen times in his 20 years of activism. He says he's on tour to bid farewell to his friends and encourage them to keep up the fight to legalize cannabis.

"I'm going away for a long time so I expect everybody to do their best and pick up the slack for me.'

Calgary cannabis activist, Keith Fagan, say Emery's farewell tour helps keep the issue in the public eye.

"It does help to get the message out there. Marc and I don't agree on everything. He's a smoke cannabis out in the public type, and I'm of course not. But we still work together. We're still friends."

Emery wants activists to fight bill C-15. The federal bill will introduce mandatory minimum sentences for marijuana in Canada. It has passed the House of Commons and it is currently before the Senate.

Emery says the NDP, the Bloc, and the Green Party are all cannabis-friendly political parties that activists should support.

Other stops on Emery's farewell tour include Banff on Monday, Lethbridge on Tuesday, Saskatoon on Wednesday, and Edmonton on Thursday.

Comments are now closed for this story

Justin
Wow, I love the level of idiocy being written in the comments.

Devlin
If you break the law in another country that we have an extradition treaty with you get extradited. That's the way it works. It's not shameful or a travesty. People shouldn't be violating other countries laws to make a point otherwise, as is going to happen, you end up in their jail. It goes both ways, if an American violated a Canadian law Canada can apply to have them extradited here.

TYC
He shouldn't be sent to the US. Do we have to always follow the US in everything they say for us to do? We are a sovereign nation...not the 51st state! Prohibition has never worked and throwing people in a CAGE will not change that.

No room for social liberties anymore
It's nice to see the logic of the law, "follow me without question, even when I may be wrong". Why should the DEA be allowed to infringe on our countries business? Seems like our "neighbor" to the South is taking the self-appointed leader of our "neighborhood watch" too seriously. Love him or hate him, Marc is being treated unjustly, something no advocate of freedom would sit idly by and tolerate.

Tony
The "glad he's gone people" should be so lucky to go through life without ever having a conflict between what is right and what is the law. The hypocrisy of it is that people who don't smoke weed think they are better than those who do.

Of course small minds always think they have a good understanding of things, not much room up there for confusion. Memory for 2 colours only, black and white.

Read a book and better yourselves, haters!

NWS
Paddy, read the article...he will be surrendering himself to US authorities in Seattle and the last time I checked Seattle is in Washington State, therefore no "travesty".

Good riddance to bad rubbish Mr. Emery.

Ben
I honestly can't say I feel terrible for him. He knew the consequences and knew what he was doing was illegal. For those who think drugs create gangs and create an increase in violence, I must ask whether you feel that all such substances be made legal? Imagine a father or mother hooked on these substances abusing their families welfare to support their addiction? It's wrong and that's why it's illegal. I won't disagree that the illegality of these substances drives their value and therefore gang involvement up, but we cannot simply take the 'lesser of two evils' because this takes us down a path far more difficult than could be imagined in the long term. Better that we start caring a little more for our kids and keep them out of situations that encourage gang involvement. Start with better discipline in schools.

JP
Good riddance.

Bob Fircher
As the great George Carlin once said"We don't have rights, we have privileges given to us by the government" and they take those away when ever it suits them.
If you don't think this is true then just talk to Marc for a while and in his eloquent and factual way he will explain just how deluded we have become as a society.

Dr. Ralf Gurney, England.
I am disgusted with the attitude of you people to a fellow countryman.I thought Canadians were good people. But what do I read here? No help,no support, just spite.

You would allow the U.S to disrespect Canada like that, and happily? HE HAS COMMITED NO CRIME IN YOUR COUNTRY.

No wonder Canada is considered Americas weakling little sister.

mike canada
I shake my head sadly at the uninformed who are negative,mean and callous.
What type of person would wish harm on another when they have neither;met the person or walked a mile in the other person's shoes.
Doesn't this go against all that we believe in as a nation?
What's happening to Marc is very sad and scary.

Ron J. - Calgary
Only the short-sighted think that legalizing drugs will stop all of the illegal activity. You can legally buy a car stereo, but that doesn't stop thieves from breaking into cars. Nor does the legal sale of car stereos stop those from fencing stolen ones.

Fighter for Life!!!
I wish the best to Mr Emery. Canada is not ready to make the move on this marijuana and that is sad. There will always be fighters and will not stop!

Cauff Togetooff
Every one of us know people that smoke pot. Pot being legal or illegal makes no difference on who smokes it. I know know doctors, lawyers, judges, politicians who smoke pot. Get your head out of the sand people. Time to regulate and tax this widely used substance!

Ian
Lets try replacing the word marijuana with alcohol. Are we still having the same conversation?
Why is there not a Bill being passed in the House to make MANDATORY sentences for people convicted of drunk driving? Oh, thats right - we take away their drivers license for a year.
There is far more damage done to society as a whole from alcohol use every year. Yet, here we are supporing "I am Canadian" beer campaigns as if its a national symbol of pride!
The real problem here is a significant lack of education on both drug, and alcohol use.

Caryl
People, gotta agree with those who believe that the States should not be telling us what to do in our own country.
And seriously, wake up and smell the marijuana... when the dealers don't want drugs legalized, something is wrong.... and since when did Prohibition in any form work? All it does is criminalize the wrong people. What people decide to do with their own brains and bodies IS NOT YOUR BUSINESS. I can't remember the last time someone smoked a joint and beat his wife up, or killed someone driving. You're all brainwashed. Thought you were critical thinkers? LOL

Sven
Pot will always be one of those drugs that never goes away. What governments need to do is to de-criminalize marijuana, not legalize it. Treat it the same as alcohol, which in my opinion is a lot worse than pot.

JMA
Marc Emery should not be selling drugs to make fast bucks ,so he should find a job to earn a honest living !

Steven in Calgary
Michael from Calgary, Get your facts right. He wasn't selling drugs through the mail to the US, he was selling Cannibus Seeds!
Maybe it would be nice if the governments finally told us about their lies, and told us that prohibition does NOT work. Is Marijuana really any more dangerous or harmful than alcohol or tobacco? Get Real People!

Michelle
Good bye, Mr. Emery. You fought the good fight, and it's admirable that you're turning yourself in. It's too bad you lost the war. For the rest of us who support you, we wish you the best of luck, and promise you the fight is not over!! We will succeed in educating the masses that pot is more harmless than alcohol, and that medicinal properties outweigh most modern painkillers. We will pick up where you left off, and we hope to see you soon!!

Ryan in Calgary
I've seen the effect Pot can have on people, and it's not harmless like some people would like you to believe!

I hope this "activist" get 20 years in Prison!

Jason still a Canadian
Legalizing this junk would get rid of the gangs. Who would buy from a thug if you could go to the store but we can't even control alcohol.

Mr. Emery did chose to break a law in another country but he did it in our country, where it is legal. If he were on US soil lock him up but he was here on canadian soil to me this is still Canada not the USA.

Dana Larsen
Cannabis is the world's greatest and most useful plant. No other plant has the wide array of medicinal, industrial, nutritional and agricultural benefits of cannabis.

To sentence Marc Emery to prison time for selling seeds is a crime against nature. ALL seeds and plants are a gift from the creator, especially one as useful as cannabis.

The Bible says that "everything which God has made is good, and nothing is evil, if it is taken with praise." Those who believe in God's laws should not support human laws which ban God's plants.

It is time to end the global war on medicinal and spiritual plants, especially the war on cannabis.

Patriotic Canadian
If Emery is a criminal he should be charged in Canada under our laws. Outsourcing our justice system to the US is a shameful abrogation of our sovereignty.

Refusing to charge a Canadian citizen with exporting, so that he can instead be charged in another country, is a disgusting act for our nation.

Joe Conservative
the gov ought to perform a study and rule out once and for all whether pot is harmful or not, comparing it to other substances like alcohol.

Alcohol can ruin people but its legal. Its PERSONAL LIBERTY, if medically its OK then let it be. As long as someone isn't doing something that will infringe on others then its OK, under the circumstance medical studies clear pot as something so harmful

So much money is spent on enforcement, but we need to re-examine the cause and determine if its OK or not.

Steve Bottrell
Whether you think drugs are bad or not is not the issue. Its an issue of freedom. We have 2 problems, prohibition and drugs. The drug problem is not going away, and the prohibitionist solution is not working. We will never incarcerate ourselves out of the drug problem. So a new (not really) approach is needed. Regulate drugs. And in order to regulate you must make it legal. If you think prohibition is making it harder for your kids to get drugs, think again. Regulation would take it off the streets and into some form of government control. Think Liquor stores or along that line. Give people the freedom to do as they want as long as it doesn't harm anyone else or their property. Let them make there own choices. Educate, and regulate, not lies and incarcerate.

David from Vancouver
Marc didn't sell drugs, he sold seeds. If Canadians sold grape seeds or hop seeds to Americans during alcohol prohibition, should we have sent them over the border to face a five year term for that. One day people will see cannabis as a soft drug similar to coffee - on that day Marc will be seen as a drug-peace hero.

Gary
blatant disregard for the law and couldn't care less and do what you tootin well please you will have years of your life taken away.

No sympathy from me either.

Lisa
Laws are made by bunch of idiots. Bigger idiot if you choose to follow it without questioning it first.

Glenn C
I agree with Michael, No sympathy here either! Good bye tour??? Don't let the door catch your rear on the way out.

Anne
Patty,

You're pathetic. I wold personally hand this low life over to any authorities, no matter what country we're talking about. If it's US, so be it. He did something illegal and he should pay for it.

Sue
Bye, write when you get honest work.

teresa
Okay let me get this straight... cigarettes are legal... all booze is legal... but somehow pot is not... I have never smoked pot but somehow I am wondering how we can determine what is wrong and what is right as a society ... the older generation do do not see booze as a problem.... and certainly they do not see cigarettes as a huge problem... and now we are all sitting back wondering about pot... yikes... how on earth can pot be more lethal than booze and cigarettes... hello.. people .. give your head a shake .. it can't be more lethal... it is a statement and it is a political problem... I actually see it as an oncoming debate.. right or wrong... but cigarettes and booze where never an oncoming debate... go figure

Bob
The Us allows canada to do the same, so don't knock the states for going after him!! Make it legal won't change anything! Just give more room for the gangs. He took the law into his own hands and is going to pay for it. Don't feel sorry for the guy at all!

hotBoxOnFarrisWheelBobMarleyStlye
Thanks Marc Emery for your awsome seeds, your work will continue and POTTV.com will continue to be a success. Peace and love is not far away once the herb is legalized

John Brown
If he truly believes in his cause, then he should be willing to go to jail for it. lets see if he really does believe he's a martyr

Fk
why the hell do people that dont smoke pot really care about the whole situation I mean come on if you want to smoke pot you should be allowed to and if your against smoking pot than dont smoke it and just leave others that smoke pot alone. and really its not that bad if you consider the fact that so many other people smoke tobacco its way worse than pot ther's stuff like bleach and nailpolish remover in tobacco . so I say good luck to you Mark Emery

whoever said life was fair......
ok ...so there are far worse laws broken everyday and punished far less...... leave marc alone

P
we should give his a good swift boot over the border...

Jennifer
Bye-bye.

paddy
Regardless of what you think of pot, how is it that our impotent government allows the US to COME HERE to extradite a CANADIAN CITIZEN for an American "crime"?
Shame on Harper and the impotent government for allowing this travesty. Being Canadian only counts until the US says they want you?

Doug
It seems today that whenever we have percive a problem enforcing a law we want to eliminate it; how far will we go with this attitude?

Why on the other hand do people feel that creating more laws will solve other problems?

Jim - North Saanich, BC
Marc Emery has stated ever so clearly one the reasons I do not and will not support the NDP, the Bloc or the Green Party.

I also say to Mr. Emery that you chose to break the law in another country and I haven't the least bit of sympathy for you or your cause nor do a substantial majority of Canadians.

Jason in Slave Lake
Good riddance. And I really fail to see the wisdom in just legalizing everything illicit as a means to profit from it. Do you really think that just because a government gets involved in the business that all the associated problems will just go away? I think not. There will always be people who will use these substances to take advantage of others. Simply making it legal doesn't make it right.

Marc Emery Fan
Marijuana is not criminal. The prohibition of drugs has created violent gangs. Their profits are sent away to drug lords who pay terrorist groups for security. The multibillion dollar underground industry will not go away and it is only a matter of time before a sane evolved government nationalizes all drugs and sells them in safe pure forms over the counter like a pharmacy and fills in the missing part of our economy.

Michael from Calgary
Not a ounce of sympathy. You knew selling drugs through the mail to the US was a serious crime and chose to do it anyways.