Urdedpal
New Member
Washington, D.C.: Do you think there is an image problem with the legalization movement? Why is it that most of the people who are advocating medical use don't look like doctors but instead look like 60s leftovers?
Marc Emery: I agree, it would be nice to get more suits and fewer cliches attending rallies.
But those who have something to lose don't come to marijuana legalization rallies. If you can be fired, urine tested, suspected as a grower, because newspapers photographed you at a rally, then you won't get people with jobs, kids, security, status, etc to lose.
Why don't teachers attend rallies? Their job. Why don't truckers attend rallies for pot? Urine-testing. Why don't mothers attend? Lose the kids.
Appearing at a legalization rally implies you are doing illegal activity and this is thought in America to full of consequences.
People at rallies typically are young people with no liklihood of stigma causing a compromise on their quality of life. I wish it weren't so, but a police state is effective at suppressing public dissent.
Philadelphia, Pa.: I am one who believes that dangerous substances such as alcohol, tobacco, and pot should be regulated strongly but not illegal. Would you agree this is a consistent and logical position to take?
Marc Emery: Cannabis might more accurately be regulated like coffee, although coffee is less value-added in that coffee workers are thought to be underpaid, exploited.
Cannabis growers typicaly receive the highest price in the market of any cash crop.
Alcohol and tobacco kill hundreds of thousands each year, cannabis kills no one. Is the alcohol and tobacco paradign really applicable? I think not.
Cannabis is subtly consciousness changing, but I don't believe it is mind altering.
One thing I tell young people, alcohol when consumed will have a person acquiesce to any kind of immorality, but pot does not change any moral perameters. For example, on alcohol, standards drop rapidly and women often end up having sex with someone they ordinarily wouldn't have sex with. On marijuana, that never happens. Pot never has you do something that goes against your moral beliefs when sober. Pot will have you enjoy more what you would already do. Alcohol will have you do things you would never do ordinarily.
They are not similar. Alcohol is dangerous. Marijuana if it has undesirable effects, subsides quickly and with no long term damage.
Laurel, Md.: Isn't it true that every known medicinal value of marijuana is available in some other therapy? And hence that the people who want it legalized for medical use really just want to smoke it?
Marc Emery: This person may be right, maybe if a person toured the entire pharmocopiae, you might find the right substitute for marijuana medicine.
But why bother? If marijuana works, then that is all the proof any sick person requires.
Even if marijuana is not perfect medicine, why should anyone go to jail for believing it is medicine? Why should anyone go to jail over a plant?
I find this argument about health and responsibility disingenuous.
The president of Coors Breweries (Mr. Coors) has never once been before a court to account for the hundreds of thousands of death related to Coors products. Nor has the President of Philip-Morris ben before a court for the hundreds of thousands of tobacco deaths directly related to their products. Same with Smith-Wesson, Ford Motor Comnpany (who still make cars with speed limits two to three time the legal speed limit), Vioxx manufacturers.
Yet because I provided safe seeds to consenting adults (not a one of whom complained!) in America, I face a prison term longer than what a multiple murderer would receive in a Canadian jail. And no one has ever been sentenced to one day in jail for seeds in Canada.
Charlottesville, Va.: Does smoking pot (i.e. combustion) cause lung cancer?
Marc Emery: No, smoking pot attacks cancers.
Let me point out a fascinating empirical bit of news.
No coroner or doctror or researcher has found that even one person has ever had respiratory or lung cancers from smoking pot exclusively. Yet many of us have been smoking for 30 and 35 years, non-stop for the most part, and no cancers! Why? Because THC attacks tumours. a 1974 World Health Org study showed that THC injected into rates shrank tumours by 50%!! It was suppressed by the US government and found by the Boston Globe in 1999.
So when you take a big bong hit, you are delivering THC to the lungs, which attacks tumours. Pot itself is a vaso-dilator, unlike nicotine, which is a vaso-constrictor.
That is why chewing tobacco causes lesions and cancers, it blocks the flow of blood and oxygen causing necrosis.
Pot opens up arteries and blood vessel movement, causing increase blood flow and oxygen, and ultimately better health than normal!
Arlington, Va.: Is pot a gateway drug in your opinion? I have my own, just want to see what the "Prince" thinks.
Marc Emery: Pot is readily available, so I would concede that pot is an introductory experience.
However, alcohol, nail polish remover, solvents, tobacco, parent's prescription drugs, stuff kids can easily find around the home are the bad gateways to substance abuse.
All young people will abuse some substance (experience = trial & error), but long term abuse is the key concern.
What creates addiction?
I ran a drug addiction treatment house and treated 65 patients for hard core addictions like heroin, *******, crystal meth. I found that of those 65 patients, 60 did not have their biological father in their life for all or part of their childhood. This psychic wound went on to undermine their entire life. It was this discovery that lead me to see that drug addiction isn't about the drugs, its about childhood trauma. If someone has suffered childhood trauma, then they will go through every drug possible to chase away demons or fears.
Ottawa, Canada: I am curious about your attitude about going to prison. You seem to think that by making a marytr of yourself the U.S. will change its repressive pot laws. Can you explain why you think this will happen?
Marc Emery: I believe if I am extradited to the USA, then over the years that follow, on anniversaries, my birthday, etc. activists around the world will act against US government interests and policies around the world. I will encourage all those who believe as I do to take special and dramatic action to commemorate my imprisonment. I hope that my incarceration would be responsible for tens of thousands of new activists who will burn with a seething passion to undermine the US WAR on Drugs and the evil entities (DEA, ONDCP, the President) that thrive under this US form of fascism.
Rockville, Md.: You're an idiot. You deserve to be locked up for your crimes. Why do you feel the need to throw your activities in the faces of law enforcement agents?
Marc Emery: I believe that I have always kept the debate focused:
Cannabis is a peaceful and honest lifestyle choice, endorsed in writings by Thomas Jefferson and George Washington, that is being suppressed by a Nazified, paramilitary organization (the DEA) acting under illegal authority from a White House that has usurped the Constitution. That is a rogue government in Washington DC and in a manner similar to Falun Gong, it is our duty through peaceful methods to rid the world of the evil that sits at 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue. That is why to defeat the US War on us we use peaceful means, education, and our peaceful spirit to show that there is evil in America and it needs to be addressed. Our enemy uses guns, weapons, helicopters, wire tapping, phone surveillance, snitches, informers, German Shepherd attack dogs, gulags and concentration camps. Is there any doubt what should be eradicated from the face of the earth?
Winnipeg, Manitoba: Marc, what conditions contained in the MLAT treaty would allow the Canadian courts or government to refuse extradition?
Marc Emery: Interestingly, if an extradition is based on politics (as this one surely is), that should negate the extradition. But the Mutual Legal Assistance Treaty signed by Canada does not allow politics to be a reason for refusing the extradition -in drug cases!
So I am screwed there, even though Karen Tandy (head of the DEA) repeatedly went on about my impact on the legalization movement (calling Cannabis Culture Magazine a propogandist magazine!).
Only 3 people in 150 years have not been extradited to the US at the behest of the US government. And both my lawyer, 60 Minutes reporter Bob Simon, reiterated that the DEA wants me very badly.
Montréal, Québec: Marc, why should you and the others Michelle and Greg be charged within Canada on a an canadian warrant and then not be prosecuted under Canadain law??
All the Best to the BC3
Marc Emery: Because the Canadian political establishment that is in governance in Canada (The Liberal-Conservative parties) both want me out of the way for as long as possible, like the enemies of freedom (White House, DEA, Congress) in the USA do.
In 10 years I achieved huge results in Canada and the world. I sent out over 4 million seeds, had people grow those plants out, over 10 years, probably produced 10 to 20 million marijuana plants around the world, forcing the expenditure of hundreds of millions of dollars in Nazi police style activities in the USA, Canada and the world. Then with that money, I spent just under $4 million on court cases, lawyers for class action suits, ballot intiatives, politicians, elections, rallies, conferences, political parties, all peaceful, democratic investments, completely transparent, to subvert the US drug war and bring about a legal environment where cannabis can be taxed, regulated in a manner that addresses all social concerns. Ending prohibition, to say it simply.
It was a genius plan. Produce millions of plants to Overgrow the Governments, give the US people what they want (they do want the marijuana, and they'd rather grow it themselves than buy Afghani or foreign pot) and then spend the money they have entrusted to me to achieve what Americans who must hide from their government cannot do, participate in the public process to end prohibition.
Silver Spring, Md.: Megalomania, noble magalomania, but megalomania all the same.
Marc Emery: But that is not a criticism of me, only my attitude. Criticism should be directed at my work. And where is the flaw in the raison d'etre or the execution of my ideas. All peaceful, honest, transparent. So easily contrasted with our enemies in Washington, deceptive, dishonest, megalomaniacal, armed to kill.
Detroit, Mich.: You seem like a passionate activist. Why not focus your energy on something that would provide a greater good for all of society? Like getting rid of poverty, or pollution controls? I mean there are just so many worthwhile causes to benefit society as a whole instead of people who just want to get high. I had an uncle who smoked pot until he was in his 40s, his kids have problems because their dad smoked pot, but since he's stopped he's so much more fun to be around. I mean, do something to help everyone instead of creating an even more lazy society.
Marc Emery: More people are in jail for non-violent, peaceful transactions about drugs than any other grotesque civil rights violation in the world.
Since 1956, over 13 million Americans have been arrested for pot, several million spent significant times in jail for pot over those years. Why? No reason! Just pure state sponsored sadism!
Currently there are over 100,000 in US jails for non-violent cannabis growing, selling, distributing or even possession. There are 150,000 more in jails worldwide for marijuana. This staggering in inhumanity to those jailed and their children and loved ones who are made miserable. And for what? To satisfy a sick and evil urge in the US government to make "the sinners pay". Thats all it is. Ideology that punishes people for their peaceful honest lifestyle choices.
In our new to be released edition of Cannabis Culture Magazine, we profile the 10 longest serving pot prisoners in America, all have been in jail at least 14 years so far, and many have been in jail for 15 to 20 years on life sentences for distribution of pot. Rapper Weldon Angelos just received a 55 year sentence for selling a few ounces of pot. America is a prison state with over 2.5 million prisoners, many for drugs, which is the result of prohibition. If I can draw attention to the cesspool of abuse and incarceration that is America today, then I will be useful in jail.
Silver Spring, Md.: What do you believe to be a reasonable age for a person to begin smoking marijuana. I myself first tried it at 13 and am kind of horrified in retrospect when I see how you 13 year olds appear now. I never smoked it with any regularity until the end of highschool and then went on to be a very successful college student, as well as a daily smoker. I consider myself a strong legalization advocate mostly for practical concerns relating to society as a whole but I have mixed feelings as to how I feel children should be educated about marijuana.
Marc Emery: I didn't smoke marijuana until I was 22. I had my comic book business from 11 - 16 to keep me busy, then my bookstore from 17 - 22 to keep me busy. So I was a late bloomer.
Realistically, kids discover stuff around their house. Getting liquor from the liquor cabinet, finding smokes about the house,going into the medicine cabinet. In British Columbia, 5% of all 10 year old boys are on Ritalin. Thats an amphetamine. And we wonder where they get an interest in crystal methamphetamine.
When they find pot, its always fun. Thats why 80% of high school kids will try pot. The word from their friends is that pot is fun and pot is cool. and pot IS always cool.
You look at who tells you pot is great - musicians, hip hoppers, rockers, artists, move actors, writers, poets, computer nerds, etc - and who tells you pot is not great -parents, treachers, police, priests and government. It is always the permanent uncool class of culture thats says pot is not good. POT was used by black jazz musicians in the 20's and 30's, beatniks (Kerouac, etc) in the 50's, the peace generation in the 60's, Hendrix, the Beatles, etc. c'mon, that is permanerntly cool.
Pot is always cool. As long as its illegal, young people must have it. In this way we criminaliuze the natural curiosity of our youth and create an evilly apartheid like community.
Munich, Germany: You're obviously a strong advocate of smoking marijuana. What is your opinion on the negative heath aspects (cancer (thinking of Bob Marley), concentration loss, motivation loss) versus positive health aspects of medicinal marijuana?
Marc Emery: Bob Marley died of cancer of the toe, which spread through his blood to his brain. His lungs were free of cancer to the end.
Any substance used by 164,000,000 people worldwide is going to have some health anomalies. Nothing can be used by that many people without some interesting unexpected effects.
However, that is no reason anyone should go to jail. That is why I typically refuse to talk about health implications because it is the only time in human discourse where the health efficacy of a substance is used to jail us.
For example, if we talk about deaths from trans fats or McDonald's french fries, no where in that discussion is it even implied or suggested that someone should go to jail for possessing those french fries or selling them. But in every discussion about the health effects of marijuana, the questioner is usually trying to draw a negative health inference specifically with the intent to justify prohibition of marijuana, that is the jailing and punishment of my people. So it isn't really about health, since jail is never an antidote to bad health, its about justifying the program against us with 'health' explanations. Evil stuff but subtle.
Reston, Va.: I'm not sure if selling pot seeds by mail makes you a one-man criminal enterprise, but I cannot understand this administration's obsession when it comes to marijuana. I haven't smoked since college in the 1970s, but pot's value for relieving various medical symptons is documented and undeniable. When my grandmother stayed with me so I could take her to the hospital for daily radiation treatments, a bit of marijuana supressed her nausea better than any medication and without any side effects. I have had other friends who were forced to buy it illegally when it was the only thing that worked well enough to have a halfway normal existence and get through each day.
Marc Emery: Governments are obsessed with marijuana because the marijuana people are peaceful, experimental, sexual, sensual, critical thinkers who reject one book dogmas, whether the dogma is Christian, Muslim, fundamentalism, or even the dogma of the Book of The Law. All the people who believe all the "answers" are in one book are very dangerous to the survival of the planet. That is why Falun Gong is so dangerous to the Communist Party of China. They put their spiritual self ahead of the Communist Party. They believe they have the right to practice autonomous, peaceful, behaviour and thoughts. They practice a peaceful and honest lifestyle choice that infuriates the Communist Party, to the extent that Falun Gong practitioners are tortured, jailed, executed, punished. The Cannabis culture is the same. Always governments, teachers, police, parents, priests, see the cannabis people questions their authority, which requires unquestioning obedience. We don't accept unquestioning obedience as a basis for life, so we are targetted by governments who need followers, not critical thinkers.
Washington, D.C.: Are there currently any legal alternatives that produce the same effects as marijuana?
Marc Emery: If there were, they'd be illegal. Its the call to critical thinking, repudiating dogma that marijuana brings out. That substance would be illegal.
Actualizing substances that allow you to see beyond the Calvinist work-sacrifice-obediance to God (via the White House/Tehran/Jerusalem) are all illegal. Mushrooms, cannabis, DMT, all these substances that allow a person to see greater truths beyond the popular "imaginary friends" dogma of mainstream belief systems is illegal. Ever met a Deadhead that was menace? (Al Gore, maybe, but) mostly Deadheads are peaceful people, yet there are still over 100 people serving their second decade for distributing *** at Grateful Dead concerts. *** is one of the most beautiful experiences any human can have. And there they sit rotting in jail for delivering a beautiful experience to others.
Washington, D.C.: I do agree that with the legalization good can come, tax dollars & cutting into the 'black market' but then the problem will lay how would the government control it. There are so many different 'brands' of chronic, which then leads to the problem of increasing the black market with just the 'heavier' chronic if not provided by the government. What should be the age limit, or would there be?
Marc Emery: The system I envisage is this way.
State governments licence farmers to grow marijuana, usually in Greenhouses in the rural areas. Its legal now, so theft won't be a big problem. People with gardens are allowed 10 plants in the back yard. Growing in residential houses is discouraged. Government would licence retail distributors. It would be labelled for potency and purity. It would be chosen like a coffee flavour, " Give me 10 grams of White Widow, 5 grams of Grapefruit. " Then it would be vacuum sealed and it would be a $100 fine to smoke on the streets, so you have to take it home to a private function, club or residence before it could be opened. The point of sale distributor would not be able to sell to those under 18, would collect applicable taxes.
This would deprive millions from crime syndicates, stop the hundreds of thousands of teenagers who enter the illegal cannabis market every year to earn money, make everything transparent and obvious.
Silver Spring, Md.: I would argue that the most influential cultural force on today's youth is hip-hop culture. It is a culture that is openly accepting of marijuana and reaps the commercial rewards of this stance. Do you find it ironic or infuriating that a culture that embraces Snoop as a marketable icon condemns his most public of indulgence?
Marc Emery: Hip hop is very influential to young people, its a strange mix of mass conformity (haven't they been doing the same schtick for 15 years now!) posing as rebellion.
However, clothes, music, even attitude isn't real rebellion. But pot is still rebellion. Anything that makes your parents,. teachers, and cops come down on you is definitely certified rebellion! And so they exploit that in the music.
The problem is really that white guys who have been smoking every day for 30 years do not announce this. Paul McCartney, Neil Young, Robert Plant, Jack Nicholson, Harrison Ford, they all smoke marijuana every day and I would love it if those guys, and about 300 others I know who are white, old and famous, would come out and say it. Its too late for Art Garfunkel, he's out (and so is Paul Simon, 40 years and still smoking!)
But they don't want their travel plans interrupted by Homeland Security, they don't want their label to drop them, etc. so they say nothing while being totally chronic. Its the hippies at the rallies paradigm, if you've got something to lose, you stay in the closet.
Rockville, Md.: I smoked marijuana for over 10 years on a daily basis. Now that I have a wife that doesn't smoke and a new baby boy, I don't smoke at all.
I need to clear a large number of fallen branches from the trees in our yard. It's going to require lots of cutting, the use of a chainsaw, and bundling up the pieces for disposal--and will take several hours.
First the first time in a long while I've been like "Man I wish I had some weed before starting this!". I truly don't miss smoking that much, but it made yardwork SO MUCH EASIER for some reason. I would actually enjoy this monumental task if I had a big fat spliff beforehand.
Marc Emery: One of the great values of marijuana is its utility in making boring routine work invigorating.
It may sound odd to many, but you can handle serious responsibilities using pot and it may enhance your performance.
The proof of competence is always performance, thats why urine testing is completely wrong. People need to be urine tested because no incompetence was visible at the actual performance level! That is the fraud of urine testing. It detects lifestyle but not performance!
Many auto assemblyline workers know pot makes the job more interesting and engaging. Women who do housework find that housework is way more fun using pot. I found I was a better parent, driver, lover, teacher after smoking pot. Better businessman too.
New York, N.Y.: Do you think that government persecution may have the effect that people who support our civil rights become disenchanted with their government and stop voting, thus resulting in elections tilted toward the law-and-order vote?
Marc Emery: Lets hope they watch V for Vendetta, currently on at the movies.
I am happy that a popular entertainment vehicle is promoting the idea that the government is the terrorist organization, with clear parallels to governments in Britain and the USA, the primary western terrorist organizations (Iran, China, Russia are the Asian terrorist governments).
Even though its only a 'movie' it will be popular as a cult film in the years ahead, influencing people to look at their government in stark term. Although the July issue of Cannabis Culture has an article, " The 79 Excellent Congressmen and women of the House of Representatives. " its easy to see why pot smokers are disengaged from the political process. Watching Jon Stewart makes you feel informed and helpless at the same time! We need a revolutionary spirit in our politics, and we need to call for the end of the White House/Capitol Hill dominance of our daily life. I think more popular entertainment that creates an environment where people feel revolutionary is a very good thing. We need the 60's back, and of course, suppression of marijuana is all about repressing the 60's, Vietnam-war protests, the music, the revolutionary ethos.
Washington, D.C.: Are you high now?
Marc Emery: It would make this more fun, I'm exhausted! But I found out that my interviews weren't noticeably different high or otherwise. When I toured Canada in 2003 on my Summer of Legalization Tour, smoking a bong or one ounce joint in front of police stations, when I got arrested at 4.20, I was hauled off to jail after just the one toke. That happened in 6 cities. In the 12 cities I didn't get arrested in, I kept smoking non-stop and kept talking to the media for up to 90 minutes more.
When I compared the interviews later on (high/not high) they were identical.
Vancouver, B.C.: How can we get our teachers to teach our children the scientific, accurate and evidence based approach regarding drug use if we display a wanton disregard for people like Marc Emery who has brought more information regarding drug prevention and use to the forefront during the past 10 years of his career?
Marc Emery: Why do we have police officers going into schools to talk about drugs? Shouldn't that be nurses, doctors, pharmacists and guidance counsellors? Its because we want to impress to kids that its not about health, its about going to jail. Its about breaking the arbitrary rules of society, and the punishment that goes with that. Its all about the punishment.
If drugs were all legal and regulated, and we were honest with ourselves about health consequences, we would pay no attention to marijuana and psilocybin mushrooms, we would look at how to best protect ourselves from cars, stress, tobacco, alcohol, prescription drugs (average 62 year old is on 8 different medications - wow!), guns, and all the other actual dangers that exist in every day, real time culture.
The Drug War is not about health. You cannot incarcerate your way to good health. The Drug War is all about obedience and dogma.
Washington, D.C.: Marc, I am very pro ganja and I agree with many of the points you have made regarding the the pros and cons of marijuana verses legal vices such as alcohol and cigs. Even though I support your goal I don't like the rhetoric you are using to achieve it. The marijuana legalization movement will never be taken seriously by the mainstream because too many of its advocates come accross as radicals.
When you say things like "a Nazified, paramilitary organization (the DEA) acting under illegal authority from a White House that has usurped the Constitution. That is a rogue government in Washington DC and in a manner similar to Falun Gong, it is our duty through peaceful methods to rid the world of the evil that sits at 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue" and "Our enemy uses guns, weapons, helicopters, wire tapping, phone surveillance, snitches, informers, German Shepherd attack dogs, gulags and concentration camps. Is there any doubt what should be eradicated from the face of the earth?" you come across as a little crazy.
Comparing the DEA to the Nazis and implying that the goverment runs concentration camps is extreme and silly. How could you expect the average person in America to take you or you movement seriously when you say things like that? Concentrate on the fact that alcohol and tobacco are more addictive and destructive then marijuana yet they are legal. That kind of logical argument will get a much better reaction from a housewife in Kansas because it makes sense.
PS I have a great cartoon from the New Yorker on my fridge that has a bunch of Senators standing around smokings joints. The caption reads, "if hippies had drank booze instead of smoked in the 70s"
Marc Emery: I run into this criticism but the evidence is plain.
When you see eight guys in black kevlar with DEA or SWAT on their back, carrying battering rams to smash the front door, with stun grenades, tasers at the ready, with snarling German Shepherds, screaming get down! get down! and invading a home...over some plants, and you think thats normal, thats Karen Tandy's wet dream (if she has any, it'll be about that image).
That scene above happens every hour in America, and its the same scene as Schindler's List, my friend, except no American really wants to believe that, as Pogo said in 1954 (alluding to Joe McCarthy) " we have met the enemy, and it is us."
Gulags that hold more prisoners in America than any other country including all the dictatorships, by absolute numbers and by per capita. Thats hardly "land of the free" advertising. Black uniformed Nazified police indeed, they are everywhere in America today. "Patriot" Act, an Orwellian title to herald an end to the very Constitution a "patriot" would seek to save and protect. Its all gone wrong in America and Americans have an obligation to do some heavy work and return to the values of liberty because now those values-gone-wrong are infecting the rest of the western world.
The DEA has offices in 78 countries now, extending the pernicious DEA beast into all those countries. Excepting Venezuela, and soon, Bolivia, that got the courage up to boot the US government out.
New York, N.Y.: In the states that have had medicalization on the ballot, it has been overwhelmingly popular. The percentage of voters in favor of medicalization far exceeds that of any presidential candidate. So why are politicians afraid of embracing such a popular issue?
One might also note that, if recent history is any guide, a Democrat cannot win the White House without either supporting decriminalization (Carter) or using pot himself (Clinton, Kennedy). Going back further, one could note that FDR's advocacy of ending prohibition was a large factor in his election (even though he ended up signing into law the new prohibition in 1937).
Marc Emery: The people who go to the ballot have American compassion and so they support the idea that in America you are free to put in your own body what you need to stay well.
However, politicians know it is all about "control". The purpose of government is not to protect our liberty but to control our access to liberty and choices. No government gives up control easily, readily or without a fight. Government sees its sole purpose as control.
I hope anyone who wishes to read more about my work goes to -- Cannabis Culture | Marijuana Magazine
On that page is a piece called "My message to you" which is a good summing up of my work over the last 10- years and an assessment of my situation.
Thank you. These were the most intelligent questions and I am pleased with them.
Source: Washington Post (DC)
Chat Date: Tuesday, March 21, 2006
Copyright: 2006 Washington Post
Contact: letterstoed@washpost.com
Website: washingtonpost.com - nation, world, technology and Washington area news and headlines
Marc Emery: I agree, it would be nice to get more suits and fewer cliches attending rallies.
But those who have something to lose don't come to marijuana legalization rallies. If you can be fired, urine tested, suspected as a grower, because newspapers photographed you at a rally, then you won't get people with jobs, kids, security, status, etc to lose.
Why don't teachers attend rallies? Their job. Why don't truckers attend rallies for pot? Urine-testing. Why don't mothers attend? Lose the kids.
Appearing at a legalization rally implies you are doing illegal activity and this is thought in America to full of consequences.
People at rallies typically are young people with no liklihood of stigma causing a compromise on their quality of life. I wish it weren't so, but a police state is effective at suppressing public dissent.
Philadelphia, Pa.: I am one who believes that dangerous substances such as alcohol, tobacco, and pot should be regulated strongly but not illegal. Would you agree this is a consistent and logical position to take?
Marc Emery: Cannabis might more accurately be regulated like coffee, although coffee is less value-added in that coffee workers are thought to be underpaid, exploited.
Cannabis growers typicaly receive the highest price in the market of any cash crop.
Alcohol and tobacco kill hundreds of thousands each year, cannabis kills no one. Is the alcohol and tobacco paradign really applicable? I think not.
Cannabis is subtly consciousness changing, but I don't believe it is mind altering.
One thing I tell young people, alcohol when consumed will have a person acquiesce to any kind of immorality, but pot does not change any moral perameters. For example, on alcohol, standards drop rapidly and women often end up having sex with someone they ordinarily wouldn't have sex with. On marijuana, that never happens. Pot never has you do something that goes against your moral beliefs when sober. Pot will have you enjoy more what you would already do. Alcohol will have you do things you would never do ordinarily.
They are not similar. Alcohol is dangerous. Marijuana if it has undesirable effects, subsides quickly and with no long term damage.
Laurel, Md.: Isn't it true that every known medicinal value of marijuana is available in some other therapy? And hence that the people who want it legalized for medical use really just want to smoke it?
Marc Emery: This person may be right, maybe if a person toured the entire pharmocopiae, you might find the right substitute for marijuana medicine.
But why bother? If marijuana works, then that is all the proof any sick person requires.
Even if marijuana is not perfect medicine, why should anyone go to jail for believing it is medicine? Why should anyone go to jail over a plant?
I find this argument about health and responsibility disingenuous.
The president of Coors Breweries (Mr. Coors) has never once been before a court to account for the hundreds of thousands of death related to Coors products. Nor has the President of Philip-Morris ben before a court for the hundreds of thousands of tobacco deaths directly related to their products. Same with Smith-Wesson, Ford Motor Comnpany (who still make cars with speed limits two to three time the legal speed limit), Vioxx manufacturers.
Yet because I provided safe seeds to consenting adults (not a one of whom complained!) in America, I face a prison term longer than what a multiple murderer would receive in a Canadian jail. And no one has ever been sentenced to one day in jail for seeds in Canada.
Charlottesville, Va.: Does smoking pot (i.e. combustion) cause lung cancer?
Marc Emery: No, smoking pot attacks cancers.
Let me point out a fascinating empirical bit of news.
No coroner or doctror or researcher has found that even one person has ever had respiratory or lung cancers from smoking pot exclusively. Yet many of us have been smoking for 30 and 35 years, non-stop for the most part, and no cancers! Why? Because THC attacks tumours. a 1974 World Health Org study showed that THC injected into rates shrank tumours by 50%!! It was suppressed by the US government and found by the Boston Globe in 1999.
So when you take a big bong hit, you are delivering THC to the lungs, which attacks tumours. Pot itself is a vaso-dilator, unlike nicotine, which is a vaso-constrictor.
That is why chewing tobacco causes lesions and cancers, it blocks the flow of blood and oxygen causing necrosis.
Pot opens up arteries and blood vessel movement, causing increase blood flow and oxygen, and ultimately better health than normal!
Arlington, Va.: Is pot a gateway drug in your opinion? I have my own, just want to see what the "Prince" thinks.
Marc Emery: Pot is readily available, so I would concede that pot is an introductory experience.
However, alcohol, nail polish remover, solvents, tobacco, parent's prescription drugs, stuff kids can easily find around the home are the bad gateways to substance abuse.
All young people will abuse some substance (experience = trial & error), but long term abuse is the key concern.
What creates addiction?
I ran a drug addiction treatment house and treated 65 patients for hard core addictions like heroin, *******, crystal meth. I found that of those 65 patients, 60 did not have their biological father in their life for all or part of their childhood. This psychic wound went on to undermine their entire life. It was this discovery that lead me to see that drug addiction isn't about the drugs, its about childhood trauma. If someone has suffered childhood trauma, then they will go through every drug possible to chase away demons or fears.
Ottawa, Canada: I am curious about your attitude about going to prison. You seem to think that by making a marytr of yourself the U.S. will change its repressive pot laws. Can you explain why you think this will happen?
Marc Emery: I believe if I am extradited to the USA, then over the years that follow, on anniversaries, my birthday, etc. activists around the world will act against US government interests and policies around the world. I will encourage all those who believe as I do to take special and dramatic action to commemorate my imprisonment. I hope that my incarceration would be responsible for tens of thousands of new activists who will burn with a seething passion to undermine the US WAR on Drugs and the evil entities (DEA, ONDCP, the President) that thrive under this US form of fascism.
Rockville, Md.: You're an idiot. You deserve to be locked up for your crimes. Why do you feel the need to throw your activities in the faces of law enforcement agents?
Marc Emery: I believe that I have always kept the debate focused:
Cannabis is a peaceful and honest lifestyle choice, endorsed in writings by Thomas Jefferson and George Washington, that is being suppressed by a Nazified, paramilitary organization (the DEA) acting under illegal authority from a White House that has usurped the Constitution. That is a rogue government in Washington DC and in a manner similar to Falun Gong, it is our duty through peaceful methods to rid the world of the evil that sits at 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue. That is why to defeat the US War on us we use peaceful means, education, and our peaceful spirit to show that there is evil in America and it needs to be addressed. Our enemy uses guns, weapons, helicopters, wire tapping, phone surveillance, snitches, informers, German Shepherd attack dogs, gulags and concentration camps. Is there any doubt what should be eradicated from the face of the earth?
Winnipeg, Manitoba: Marc, what conditions contained in the MLAT treaty would allow the Canadian courts or government to refuse extradition?
Marc Emery: Interestingly, if an extradition is based on politics (as this one surely is), that should negate the extradition. But the Mutual Legal Assistance Treaty signed by Canada does not allow politics to be a reason for refusing the extradition -in drug cases!
So I am screwed there, even though Karen Tandy (head of the DEA) repeatedly went on about my impact on the legalization movement (calling Cannabis Culture Magazine a propogandist magazine!).
Only 3 people in 150 years have not been extradited to the US at the behest of the US government. And both my lawyer, 60 Minutes reporter Bob Simon, reiterated that the DEA wants me very badly.
Montréal, Québec: Marc, why should you and the others Michelle and Greg be charged within Canada on a an canadian warrant and then not be prosecuted under Canadain law??
All the Best to the BC3
Marc Emery: Because the Canadian political establishment that is in governance in Canada (The Liberal-Conservative parties) both want me out of the way for as long as possible, like the enemies of freedom (White House, DEA, Congress) in the USA do.
In 10 years I achieved huge results in Canada and the world. I sent out over 4 million seeds, had people grow those plants out, over 10 years, probably produced 10 to 20 million marijuana plants around the world, forcing the expenditure of hundreds of millions of dollars in Nazi police style activities in the USA, Canada and the world. Then with that money, I spent just under $4 million on court cases, lawyers for class action suits, ballot intiatives, politicians, elections, rallies, conferences, political parties, all peaceful, democratic investments, completely transparent, to subvert the US drug war and bring about a legal environment where cannabis can be taxed, regulated in a manner that addresses all social concerns. Ending prohibition, to say it simply.
It was a genius plan. Produce millions of plants to Overgrow the Governments, give the US people what they want (they do want the marijuana, and they'd rather grow it themselves than buy Afghani or foreign pot) and then spend the money they have entrusted to me to achieve what Americans who must hide from their government cannot do, participate in the public process to end prohibition.
Silver Spring, Md.: Megalomania, noble magalomania, but megalomania all the same.
Marc Emery: But that is not a criticism of me, only my attitude. Criticism should be directed at my work. And where is the flaw in the raison d'etre or the execution of my ideas. All peaceful, honest, transparent. So easily contrasted with our enemies in Washington, deceptive, dishonest, megalomaniacal, armed to kill.
Detroit, Mich.: You seem like a passionate activist. Why not focus your energy on something that would provide a greater good for all of society? Like getting rid of poverty, or pollution controls? I mean there are just so many worthwhile causes to benefit society as a whole instead of people who just want to get high. I had an uncle who smoked pot until he was in his 40s, his kids have problems because their dad smoked pot, but since he's stopped he's so much more fun to be around. I mean, do something to help everyone instead of creating an even more lazy society.
Marc Emery: More people are in jail for non-violent, peaceful transactions about drugs than any other grotesque civil rights violation in the world.
Since 1956, over 13 million Americans have been arrested for pot, several million spent significant times in jail for pot over those years. Why? No reason! Just pure state sponsored sadism!
Currently there are over 100,000 in US jails for non-violent cannabis growing, selling, distributing or even possession. There are 150,000 more in jails worldwide for marijuana. This staggering in inhumanity to those jailed and their children and loved ones who are made miserable. And for what? To satisfy a sick and evil urge in the US government to make "the sinners pay". Thats all it is. Ideology that punishes people for their peaceful honest lifestyle choices.
In our new to be released edition of Cannabis Culture Magazine, we profile the 10 longest serving pot prisoners in America, all have been in jail at least 14 years so far, and many have been in jail for 15 to 20 years on life sentences for distribution of pot. Rapper Weldon Angelos just received a 55 year sentence for selling a few ounces of pot. America is a prison state with over 2.5 million prisoners, many for drugs, which is the result of prohibition. If I can draw attention to the cesspool of abuse and incarceration that is America today, then I will be useful in jail.
Silver Spring, Md.: What do you believe to be a reasonable age for a person to begin smoking marijuana. I myself first tried it at 13 and am kind of horrified in retrospect when I see how you 13 year olds appear now. I never smoked it with any regularity until the end of highschool and then went on to be a very successful college student, as well as a daily smoker. I consider myself a strong legalization advocate mostly for practical concerns relating to society as a whole but I have mixed feelings as to how I feel children should be educated about marijuana.
Marc Emery: I didn't smoke marijuana until I was 22. I had my comic book business from 11 - 16 to keep me busy, then my bookstore from 17 - 22 to keep me busy. So I was a late bloomer.
Realistically, kids discover stuff around their house. Getting liquor from the liquor cabinet, finding smokes about the house,going into the medicine cabinet. In British Columbia, 5% of all 10 year old boys are on Ritalin. Thats an amphetamine. And we wonder where they get an interest in crystal methamphetamine.
When they find pot, its always fun. Thats why 80% of high school kids will try pot. The word from their friends is that pot is fun and pot is cool. and pot IS always cool.
You look at who tells you pot is great - musicians, hip hoppers, rockers, artists, move actors, writers, poets, computer nerds, etc - and who tells you pot is not great -parents, treachers, police, priests and government. It is always the permanent uncool class of culture thats says pot is not good. POT was used by black jazz musicians in the 20's and 30's, beatniks (Kerouac, etc) in the 50's, the peace generation in the 60's, Hendrix, the Beatles, etc. c'mon, that is permanerntly cool.
Pot is always cool. As long as its illegal, young people must have it. In this way we criminaliuze the natural curiosity of our youth and create an evilly apartheid like community.
Munich, Germany: You're obviously a strong advocate of smoking marijuana. What is your opinion on the negative heath aspects (cancer (thinking of Bob Marley), concentration loss, motivation loss) versus positive health aspects of medicinal marijuana?
Marc Emery: Bob Marley died of cancer of the toe, which spread through his blood to his brain. His lungs were free of cancer to the end.
Any substance used by 164,000,000 people worldwide is going to have some health anomalies. Nothing can be used by that many people without some interesting unexpected effects.
However, that is no reason anyone should go to jail. That is why I typically refuse to talk about health implications because it is the only time in human discourse where the health efficacy of a substance is used to jail us.
For example, if we talk about deaths from trans fats or McDonald's french fries, no where in that discussion is it even implied or suggested that someone should go to jail for possessing those french fries or selling them. But in every discussion about the health effects of marijuana, the questioner is usually trying to draw a negative health inference specifically with the intent to justify prohibition of marijuana, that is the jailing and punishment of my people. So it isn't really about health, since jail is never an antidote to bad health, its about justifying the program against us with 'health' explanations. Evil stuff but subtle.
Reston, Va.: I'm not sure if selling pot seeds by mail makes you a one-man criminal enterprise, but I cannot understand this administration's obsession when it comes to marijuana. I haven't smoked since college in the 1970s, but pot's value for relieving various medical symptons is documented and undeniable. When my grandmother stayed with me so I could take her to the hospital for daily radiation treatments, a bit of marijuana supressed her nausea better than any medication and without any side effects. I have had other friends who were forced to buy it illegally when it was the only thing that worked well enough to have a halfway normal existence and get through each day.
Marc Emery: Governments are obsessed with marijuana because the marijuana people are peaceful, experimental, sexual, sensual, critical thinkers who reject one book dogmas, whether the dogma is Christian, Muslim, fundamentalism, or even the dogma of the Book of The Law. All the people who believe all the "answers" are in one book are very dangerous to the survival of the planet. That is why Falun Gong is so dangerous to the Communist Party of China. They put their spiritual self ahead of the Communist Party. They believe they have the right to practice autonomous, peaceful, behaviour and thoughts. They practice a peaceful and honest lifestyle choice that infuriates the Communist Party, to the extent that Falun Gong practitioners are tortured, jailed, executed, punished. The Cannabis culture is the same. Always governments, teachers, police, parents, priests, see the cannabis people questions their authority, which requires unquestioning obedience. We don't accept unquestioning obedience as a basis for life, so we are targetted by governments who need followers, not critical thinkers.
Washington, D.C.: Are there currently any legal alternatives that produce the same effects as marijuana?
Marc Emery: If there were, they'd be illegal. Its the call to critical thinking, repudiating dogma that marijuana brings out. That substance would be illegal.
Actualizing substances that allow you to see beyond the Calvinist work-sacrifice-obediance to God (via the White House/Tehran/Jerusalem) are all illegal. Mushrooms, cannabis, DMT, all these substances that allow a person to see greater truths beyond the popular "imaginary friends" dogma of mainstream belief systems is illegal. Ever met a Deadhead that was menace? (Al Gore, maybe, but) mostly Deadheads are peaceful people, yet there are still over 100 people serving their second decade for distributing *** at Grateful Dead concerts. *** is one of the most beautiful experiences any human can have. And there they sit rotting in jail for delivering a beautiful experience to others.
Washington, D.C.: I do agree that with the legalization good can come, tax dollars & cutting into the 'black market' but then the problem will lay how would the government control it. There are so many different 'brands' of chronic, which then leads to the problem of increasing the black market with just the 'heavier' chronic if not provided by the government. What should be the age limit, or would there be?
Marc Emery: The system I envisage is this way.
State governments licence farmers to grow marijuana, usually in Greenhouses in the rural areas. Its legal now, so theft won't be a big problem. People with gardens are allowed 10 plants in the back yard. Growing in residential houses is discouraged. Government would licence retail distributors. It would be labelled for potency and purity. It would be chosen like a coffee flavour, " Give me 10 grams of White Widow, 5 grams of Grapefruit. " Then it would be vacuum sealed and it would be a $100 fine to smoke on the streets, so you have to take it home to a private function, club or residence before it could be opened. The point of sale distributor would not be able to sell to those under 18, would collect applicable taxes.
This would deprive millions from crime syndicates, stop the hundreds of thousands of teenagers who enter the illegal cannabis market every year to earn money, make everything transparent and obvious.
Silver Spring, Md.: I would argue that the most influential cultural force on today's youth is hip-hop culture. It is a culture that is openly accepting of marijuana and reaps the commercial rewards of this stance. Do you find it ironic or infuriating that a culture that embraces Snoop as a marketable icon condemns his most public of indulgence?
Marc Emery: Hip hop is very influential to young people, its a strange mix of mass conformity (haven't they been doing the same schtick for 15 years now!) posing as rebellion.
However, clothes, music, even attitude isn't real rebellion. But pot is still rebellion. Anything that makes your parents,. teachers, and cops come down on you is definitely certified rebellion! And so they exploit that in the music.
The problem is really that white guys who have been smoking every day for 30 years do not announce this. Paul McCartney, Neil Young, Robert Plant, Jack Nicholson, Harrison Ford, they all smoke marijuana every day and I would love it if those guys, and about 300 others I know who are white, old and famous, would come out and say it. Its too late for Art Garfunkel, he's out (and so is Paul Simon, 40 years and still smoking!)
But they don't want their travel plans interrupted by Homeland Security, they don't want their label to drop them, etc. so they say nothing while being totally chronic. Its the hippies at the rallies paradigm, if you've got something to lose, you stay in the closet.
Rockville, Md.: I smoked marijuana for over 10 years on a daily basis. Now that I have a wife that doesn't smoke and a new baby boy, I don't smoke at all.
I need to clear a large number of fallen branches from the trees in our yard. It's going to require lots of cutting, the use of a chainsaw, and bundling up the pieces for disposal--and will take several hours.
First the first time in a long while I've been like "Man I wish I had some weed before starting this!". I truly don't miss smoking that much, but it made yardwork SO MUCH EASIER for some reason. I would actually enjoy this monumental task if I had a big fat spliff beforehand.
Marc Emery: One of the great values of marijuana is its utility in making boring routine work invigorating.
It may sound odd to many, but you can handle serious responsibilities using pot and it may enhance your performance.
The proof of competence is always performance, thats why urine testing is completely wrong. People need to be urine tested because no incompetence was visible at the actual performance level! That is the fraud of urine testing. It detects lifestyle but not performance!
Many auto assemblyline workers know pot makes the job more interesting and engaging. Women who do housework find that housework is way more fun using pot. I found I was a better parent, driver, lover, teacher after smoking pot. Better businessman too.
New York, N.Y.: Do you think that government persecution may have the effect that people who support our civil rights become disenchanted with their government and stop voting, thus resulting in elections tilted toward the law-and-order vote?
Marc Emery: Lets hope they watch V for Vendetta, currently on at the movies.
I am happy that a popular entertainment vehicle is promoting the idea that the government is the terrorist organization, with clear parallels to governments in Britain and the USA, the primary western terrorist organizations (Iran, China, Russia are the Asian terrorist governments).
Even though its only a 'movie' it will be popular as a cult film in the years ahead, influencing people to look at their government in stark term. Although the July issue of Cannabis Culture has an article, " The 79 Excellent Congressmen and women of the House of Representatives. " its easy to see why pot smokers are disengaged from the political process. Watching Jon Stewart makes you feel informed and helpless at the same time! We need a revolutionary spirit in our politics, and we need to call for the end of the White House/Capitol Hill dominance of our daily life. I think more popular entertainment that creates an environment where people feel revolutionary is a very good thing. We need the 60's back, and of course, suppression of marijuana is all about repressing the 60's, Vietnam-war protests, the music, the revolutionary ethos.
Washington, D.C.: Are you high now?
Marc Emery: It would make this more fun, I'm exhausted! But I found out that my interviews weren't noticeably different high or otherwise. When I toured Canada in 2003 on my Summer of Legalization Tour, smoking a bong or one ounce joint in front of police stations, when I got arrested at 4.20, I was hauled off to jail after just the one toke. That happened in 6 cities. In the 12 cities I didn't get arrested in, I kept smoking non-stop and kept talking to the media for up to 90 minutes more.
When I compared the interviews later on (high/not high) they were identical.
Vancouver, B.C.: How can we get our teachers to teach our children the scientific, accurate and evidence based approach regarding drug use if we display a wanton disregard for people like Marc Emery who has brought more information regarding drug prevention and use to the forefront during the past 10 years of his career?
Marc Emery: Why do we have police officers going into schools to talk about drugs? Shouldn't that be nurses, doctors, pharmacists and guidance counsellors? Its because we want to impress to kids that its not about health, its about going to jail. Its about breaking the arbitrary rules of society, and the punishment that goes with that. Its all about the punishment.
If drugs were all legal and regulated, and we were honest with ourselves about health consequences, we would pay no attention to marijuana and psilocybin mushrooms, we would look at how to best protect ourselves from cars, stress, tobacco, alcohol, prescription drugs (average 62 year old is on 8 different medications - wow!), guns, and all the other actual dangers that exist in every day, real time culture.
The Drug War is not about health. You cannot incarcerate your way to good health. The Drug War is all about obedience and dogma.
Washington, D.C.: Marc, I am very pro ganja and I agree with many of the points you have made regarding the the pros and cons of marijuana verses legal vices such as alcohol and cigs. Even though I support your goal I don't like the rhetoric you are using to achieve it. The marijuana legalization movement will never be taken seriously by the mainstream because too many of its advocates come accross as radicals.
When you say things like "a Nazified, paramilitary organization (the DEA) acting under illegal authority from a White House that has usurped the Constitution. That is a rogue government in Washington DC and in a manner similar to Falun Gong, it is our duty through peaceful methods to rid the world of the evil that sits at 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue" and "Our enemy uses guns, weapons, helicopters, wire tapping, phone surveillance, snitches, informers, German Shepherd attack dogs, gulags and concentration camps. Is there any doubt what should be eradicated from the face of the earth?" you come across as a little crazy.
Comparing the DEA to the Nazis and implying that the goverment runs concentration camps is extreme and silly. How could you expect the average person in America to take you or you movement seriously when you say things like that? Concentrate on the fact that alcohol and tobacco are more addictive and destructive then marijuana yet they are legal. That kind of logical argument will get a much better reaction from a housewife in Kansas because it makes sense.
PS I have a great cartoon from the New Yorker on my fridge that has a bunch of Senators standing around smokings joints. The caption reads, "if hippies had drank booze instead of smoked in the 70s"
Marc Emery: I run into this criticism but the evidence is plain.
When you see eight guys in black kevlar with DEA or SWAT on their back, carrying battering rams to smash the front door, with stun grenades, tasers at the ready, with snarling German Shepherds, screaming get down! get down! and invading a home...over some plants, and you think thats normal, thats Karen Tandy's wet dream (if she has any, it'll be about that image).
That scene above happens every hour in America, and its the same scene as Schindler's List, my friend, except no American really wants to believe that, as Pogo said in 1954 (alluding to Joe McCarthy) " we have met the enemy, and it is us."
Gulags that hold more prisoners in America than any other country including all the dictatorships, by absolute numbers and by per capita. Thats hardly "land of the free" advertising. Black uniformed Nazified police indeed, they are everywhere in America today. "Patriot" Act, an Orwellian title to herald an end to the very Constitution a "patriot" would seek to save and protect. Its all gone wrong in America and Americans have an obligation to do some heavy work and return to the values of liberty because now those values-gone-wrong are infecting the rest of the western world.
The DEA has offices in 78 countries now, extending the pernicious DEA beast into all those countries. Excepting Venezuela, and soon, Bolivia, that got the courage up to boot the US government out.
New York, N.Y.: In the states that have had medicalization on the ballot, it has been overwhelmingly popular. The percentage of voters in favor of medicalization far exceeds that of any presidential candidate. So why are politicians afraid of embracing such a popular issue?
One might also note that, if recent history is any guide, a Democrat cannot win the White House without either supporting decriminalization (Carter) or using pot himself (Clinton, Kennedy). Going back further, one could note that FDR's advocacy of ending prohibition was a large factor in his election (even though he ended up signing into law the new prohibition in 1937).
Marc Emery: The people who go to the ballot have American compassion and so they support the idea that in America you are free to put in your own body what you need to stay well.
However, politicians know it is all about "control". The purpose of government is not to protect our liberty but to control our access to liberty and choices. No government gives up control easily, readily or without a fight. Government sees its sole purpose as control.
I hope anyone who wishes to read more about my work goes to -- Cannabis Culture | Marijuana Magazine
On that page is a piece called "My message to you" which is a good summing up of my work over the last 10- years and an assessment of my situation.
Thank you. These were the most intelligent questions and I am pleased with them.
Source: Washington Post (DC)
Chat Date: Tuesday, March 21, 2006
Copyright: 2006 Washington Post
Contact: letterstoed@washpost.com
Website: washingtonpost.com - nation, world, technology and Washington area news and headlines
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