Say what you will about his methods, but Canada’s self-proclaimed “Prince of Pot” knows how to make an entrance.
Throngs of admirers stood in the snow Thursday and cheered Marc Emery on as he rolled up to the opening of an illegal marijuana dispensary on Mount Royal Ave. He held court in the shop for roughly half an hour as he made an impassioned case for the legalization of pot — logic-based arguments honed over a career of marijuana advocacy.
Then he reached into a jar full of weed nuggets, held one up for the crowd to see and shouted “Who wants a free nug?” The audience hollered in approval.
Yes, the unveiling of an illegal dispensary actually ended in a massive weed giveaway.
Emery was in town to spearhead the opening of eight new Cannabis Culture dispensaries in Montreal. Starting Thursday until the time police shut them down — should they choose to do so — the stores will sell pot for recreational users provided they’re at least 19 years old.
There are dispensaries in the Plateau-Mont-Royal, Notre-Dame-de-Grace, St-Michel, Rosemont-la-Petite-Patrie and downtown. Emery and his wife, Jodie, make no bones about the fact that their business is a criminal enterprise.
“Quebec is one of two provinces I have not been arrested in,” Emery said. “I’ve been locked up in eight provinces … so, you know, there’s always room for number nine. I’ve been arrested 28 times in Canada for marijuana and I’ve seen 34 prisons and jails in all that time. And yet even after 26 years of this kind of civil disobedience, the law still exists.”
While the Liberal government was elected last year on a promise to regulate and tax the sale of marijuana, trafficking the drug is still a criminal offence.
“Marijuana prohibition has never been legitimate, there has never been a real public policy reason for why this law exists,” Emery said. “It’s a complete abomination … and anyone who enforces this despicable law is a despicable person.”
Emery may soon count Montreal Mayor Denis Coderre among his list of despicables. Coderre said Thursday there would be “zero tolerance” for the storefronts.
There are two other dispensaries in the city, but police appear to tolerate them because they only sell medicinal marijuana to patients with a valid prescription. While those establishments are, strictly speaking, illegal, neither has been raided in years.
The arrival of the Cannabis Culture franchises may upset this delicate balance. Emery’s rapidly-expanding chain includes 12 shops in Vancouver, Toronto, Hamilton and Port Coquitlam, B.C. Most have been raided by police, but re-opened within days.
However, things may not be so easy in Quebec. Though the Montreal police haven’t commented on the new dispensaries, officials say their job is to enforce the criminal code.
“The police, who I respect, don’t like this sort of a media splash,” said Marc-Boris St-Maurice, who runs the Fondation Marijuana dispensary on St-Laurent Blvd. “They could crack down and, in the past, this sort of thing has affected all of us. Even those among us who play by the rules.”
Police in Toronto and Vancouver appear to have taken a laissez-faire attitude toward the dispensaries. Emery says one of his Toronto boutiques serves more than 1,000 customers a day, that he pays sales tax on each transaction and that the Montreal locations will as well.
By year’s end, Emery says another two of his dispensaries will open in Montreal. Prospective franchisees will pay six per cent of their gross sales to Emery and, sources say, a fee of between $5,000 and $10,000 to open a dispensary.
The Cannabis Culture pot mostly comes from grow operations in British Columbia, Jodie said, adding that it’s quality tested for pesticides and other contaminants. She claims none of the dispensaries customers have ever been arrested.
“They can come and they can arrest me for buying weed if they want to,” said one customer, who wished to remain anonymous. “I didn’t do anything wrong and it won’t stop me from buying marijuana here. I don’t really drink beer, I’m not a bad guy, I just like to smoke weed. Check out how things are on the west coast, man. You can walk into a store and buy it there and society isn’t coming apart at the seams.”
Emery and Jodie have partnered with one “major investor” and a series of franchisees, but she said they’re keeping the names of their partners confidential.
Thursday’s rollout came just days after the federally-appointed Task Force on Marijuana Legalization and Regulation submitted its first report to Parliament. In it, the task force recommends the sale of marijuana in regulated storefront boutiques.
Asked why the couple didn’t wait until legalization before expanding their business, Jodie said it is only through activism, court challenges and direct action that real change can occur.
“(We are) using civil disobedience to change the law,” Jodie said. “Nearly half of all Canadians admit to using marijuana. Canadians voted for the Liberal party because they wanted legalization … Well this is what legalization looks like.
“This is what marijuana should be. And I beg the Montreal police: let us be in peace. Please do not cause harm to the harmless people who are choosing to work here and push forward this very important issue.”
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