India-inspired ‘Prince of Pot’ faces five-year jail in Canada
By IANSTuesday, May 25, 2010
VANCOUVER - India-inspired ‘Prince of Pot’ Marc Emery, who runs the Marijuana Party of Canada, Pot-TV and Cannabis Culture magazine to promote free use of pot, Monday pleaded guilty in a Seattle court to selling marijuana to Americans and faces five years in jail.
Inspired by ganja-smoking sadhus of India 20 years ago, Emery, 52 now, became North America’s most famous proponent of drug culture. By selling marijuana seeds, the Canadian spawned a multi-million-dollar empire, including the Marijuana Party of Canada, Pot-TV and Cannabis Culture magazine to promote his cause.
He ran stores in Vancouver and Toronto to sell pot seeds for making cannabis. But the trade is illegal in America.
Since he couldn’t be convicted under Canada’s liberal laws, the US sought his extradition for selling the drug to its citizens across the border. He was handed over to the Americans last Thursday.
For his admission of guilt in the US District Court in Seattle Monday, he will get five years in jail.
“Seeds from Marc Emery’s business were found at grow sites across the United States. Mr. Emery made millions of dollars promoting and facilitating marijuana grows in the United States with no regard for the age or criminal activities of his customers,” said the US Department of Justice in a release.
According to Emery, he was inspired to overthrow prohibition in North America after a visit to India in 1992.
“Sadhus were smoking ganja openly in Pushkar. No policemen interrupted them. In Varanasi, sadhus used ganja and bhang. In Jaisalmer, I found a shop which sold charas. Damn it. Back in North America we were spending million of dollars to stop drug trade, and here in India nobody stopped these sadhus.
There was no prohibition. I found India very inspirational,” Emery said.
Returning home, he said, launched a movement to overthrow prohibition by opening a shop called Hemp BC in Vancouver to openly sell marijuana or ganja.
