Jodie Emery | |
|---|---|
 Jodie Emery in Calgary (2007) | |
| Born | January 4, 1985[1] |
| Nationality | Canadian |
| Other names | Princess of Pot |
| Occupation(s) | Politician, activist |
| Known for | Cannabis legalisation |
| Political party | Liberal Party of Canada, B.C. Green Party, B.C. Marijuana Party |
| Spouse | Marc Emery (Separated) |
Jodie Emery (born January 4, 1985) is a Canadian cannabis rights activist and politician. She is the spouse of fellow activist Marc Emery. Until the business was shut down by police, the couple were co-owners of Cannabis Culture, a business that franchised pot dispensaries, later deemed to be illegal. They had obtained the cannabis from illegal sources, according to Crown prosecutors.[3][4] They are the former operators and owners of Cannabis Culture magazine and Pot TV.
She has run a cannabis legalisation platform in the Green Party of British Columbia, and the British Columbia Marijuana Party, and in 2014 unsuccessfully filed a nomination for the federal Liberal Party in the riding of Vancouver East.[5][6]
Early life
Emery was born and raised in Kamloops, BC, and graduated from St. Michael's University School in Victoria, British Columbia.[2] She moved to Vancouver in 2004. She and Marc Emery married on July 23, 2006.
Activism
As the former editor of Cannabis Culture magazine, she has been active in cannabis legalisation movements worldwide since 2004.
She began her activism working for Marc Emery helping pack mail order cannabis as a teenager, and was later hired as assistant editor of Cannabis Culture magazine in early 2005. Emery has spoken regularly at "4/20", "Cannabis Day" and Global Marijuana March rallies in Vancouver and Toronto, as well as other events in Canada and the United States, including Moses Znaimer's Idea City conference in June 2012 and 2014, the New Hampshire Liberty Forum in February 2012,[2] Canadian University Press conference in 2010, Canadian Investors Conference in 2014,[7] Boston Freedom Rally in 2012 and 2013, and the Burgundy Luncheon Club in 2011.[8]
Emery testified in favor of legalization at the Washington state legislature in 2011,[9] and participated in marijuana legalization initiatives in California in November 2010[10] and Washington State in 2012.[11] She was part of a national press conference hosted by Stop the Violence BC in April 2012 featuring former British Columbia attorney general Geoffrey Plant, Dr. Evan Wood, and the United States prosecutor of her husband, John McKay.[12]
During her husband's five year incarceration beginning in 2010 in the United States, Emery was active seeking the repatriation of her husband back to Canada,[13] including protests at Conservative Party constituency offices in 2010, including the Calgary office of Prime Minister Stephen Harper,[14] and holding a press conference inside Parliament alongside three Members of Parliament in October 2013.[15]
Emery produced a weekly video broadcast called The Jodie Emery Show from 2010 to 2014. In 2014, Emery appeared in the Trailer Park Boys film "Don't Legalize It". Other film appearances include the documentaries "Evergreen: the Road to Legalization", "Prince of Pot: The US vs Marc Emery", "A NORML Life", and "Legalize It".[16]
Criminal charges
Jodie and Marc Emery were both arrested in Montreal, and subsequently released on December 16, 2016 after opening several new Cannabis Culture dispensaries in that city.[17] At one time, there were 19 Cannabis Culture dispensaries in operation, in British Columbia, Ontario and Quebec.[18]
On March 8, 2017, the couple was arrested at Pearson International Airport and the Cannabis Culture shops were raided, leading to charges on a number of offences. The charges against 17 employees were withdrawn,[4] but Jodie Emery was convicted of possession of marijuana for the purpose of trafficking and possession of proceeds of crime over $5,000.
Marc Emery was convicted of possession of marijuana for purpose of trafficking, trafficking marijuana and possession of proceeds of crime more than $5,000.[19] They were required to pay fines ($150,000 and a $45,000 victim surcharge) and placed on two year probation.[20] After a guilty plea, the couple was convicted of drug related charges on December 18, 2017, fined and placed on two years probation.[18] Three other individuals were also convicted of drug-related charges.[19] The couple had claimed that the operation of pot shops was a form of civil disobedience, but Justice Leslie Chapin ruled as follows: "No doubt there were pro social motivations that were behind the actions, but at the same time, I have to recognize that much profit was made".[18]
In the media
Since 2004, Emery has been featured in the mainstream media. She has had many letters to the editor published in newspapers across Canada,[21] and has written for the National Post,[22] Huffington Post,[23] and The Guardian UK.[24] Her activism has led to hundreds of interviews on local, provincial and national television and radio.
Emery has been interviewed and profiled in newspapers and magazines in the United States and Canada, including Maclean's magazine, Fresh Magazine, Elle Canada magazine, the Globe and Mail, National Post, and the Georgia Straight.
From 2013 to 2014, Emery was a regular participant on the Global TV's BC1 channel show "Unfiltered" with Jill Krop, providing opinions on a wide range of current events and news stories.
Political career
Emery regularly comments on issues beyond legalization, usually through her Twitter account. She advocates for non-violence, tax spending reform, electoral reform, environmental awareness, policing and prison reform, and affordable education.[25] She ran for provincial office as a B.C. Marijuana Party candidate in 2005, and again in a 2008 by-election.[26]
She ran as a candidate for the BC Green Party in the May 2009 election,[27] coming in third, losing to Liberal Party member Kash Heed. During the campaign, she was the BC Green Party's Policing and Crime Critic, and was elected as a Director-At-Large at the 2010 BC Green Party Annual General Meeting.[2] She ran again in the 2013 general election for the BC Green Party in Vancouver-West End, finishing with 11.39% of the vote.
Emery unsuccessfully [5] filed her intention to seek the nomination for the Liberal Party in the riding of Vancouver East, held in Parliament by NDP MP Libby Davies, who announced she would not run in the 2015 federal election.[28]
Electoral record
| 2013 British Columbia general election: Vancouver-West End | ||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Party | Candidate | Votes | % | ±% | Expenditures | |||
| New Democratic | Spencer Chandra Herbert | 10,755 | 56.81 | +0.30 | $80,612 | |||
| Liberal | Scott Harrison | 5,349 | 28.25 | −4.40 | $27,424 | |||
| Green | Jodie Emery | 2,156 | 11.39 | +2.38 | $3,295 | |||
| Libertarian | John Clarke | 446 | 2.36 | +1.24 | $250 | |||
| No Affiliation | Ronald Guillermo Herbert | 132 | 0.70 | – | $361 | |||
| Work Less | Mathew David Kagis | 94 | 0.50 | – | $250 | |||
| Total valid votes | 18,932 | 100.00 | – | |||||
| Total rejected ballots | 112 | 0.59 | +0.05 | |||||
| Turnout | 19,044 | 50.64 | +0.71 | |||||
| Registered voters | 37,609 | |||||||
| Source: Elections BC[29] | ||||||||
| 2009 British Columbia general election: Vancouver-Fraserview | ||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Party | Candidate | Votes | % | ±% | Expenditures | |||
| Liberal | Kash Heed | 9,549 | 49.29 | +1.49 | $105,420 | |||
| New Democratic | Gabriel Yiu | 8,801 | 45.43 | +3.00 | $97,038 | |||
| Green | Jodie Emery | 904 | 4.67 | -1.97 | $8,279 | |||
| Refederation | Andrew Stevano | 118 | 0.61 | – | $260 | |||
| Total valid votes | 19,372 | 99.10 | ||||||
| Total rejected, unmarked and declined ballots | 175 | 0.90 | ||||||
| Turnout | 19,547 | 51.09 | ||||||
| British Columbia provincial by-election, October 29, 2008: Vancouver-Fairview Resignation of Gregor Robertson | ||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Party | Candidate | Votes | % | Expenditures | ||||
| New Democratic | Jenn McGinn | 5,752 | 46.98 | $70,030 | ||||
| Liberal | Margaret MacDiarmid | 4,936 | 40.32 | $92,092 | ||||
| Green | Jane Sterk | 900 | 7.35 | $7,773 | ||||
| Conservative | Wilf Hanni | 489 | 3.99 | $6,886 | ||||
| Marijuana | Jodie Emery | 166 | 1.36 | $430 | ||||
| Total valid votes | 12,243 | 99.76 | ||||||
| Total rejected, unmarked and declined ballots | 29 | 0.24 | ||||||
| Turnout | 12,272 | 26.93 | ||||||
Personal life
Emery and her husband have been separated for over a year as of January 2019.[30]
References
- ^ "Jodie Emery for Liberal Party". Facebook.
- ^ a b c d "Jodie Emery for MLA : HomePage". Jodieformla.ca. 2013-05-14. Retrieved 2014-06-09.
- ^ "Cannabis activists Marc and Jodie Emery plead guilty to drug-related charges | the Star". Toronto Star. 18 December 2017.
- ^ a b "Pot activists Marc and Jodie Emery get fine, probation on drug-related charges".
- ^ a b "Jodie Emery's bid to run as federal Liberal candidate turned down". Retrieved 2015-07-21.
- ^ "Wife Of Canadian Prince Of Pot Jodie Emery Files To Run Under Liberal Party". Esther Tanquintic-Misa. International Business Times. 2014-09-10. Retrieved 2014-10-04.
- ^ "Medical Marijuana Panel at Canadian Investor Conference".
- ^ "Pot, Pipelines & Poverty - Burgundy Luncheon Club". Archived from the original on 2014-12-30. Retrieved 2014-12-30.
- ^ "Marijuana Legalization Hearing in Washington State". Archived from the original on 2014-12-30. Retrieved 2014-12-30.
- ^ "Campaigning in California for Cannabis Legalization". 2010-11-08.
- ^ "New Approach Washington - Endorsements".
- ^ "Prince of Pot Prosecutor Meets Jodie Emery". 2012-04-19.
- ^ "Post by Jodie Emery". Orato.com. Retrieved 2014-06-09.
- ^ "Free Marc Member of Parliament Office Occupations". Archived from the original on 2014-12-30. Retrieved 2014-12-30.
- ^ "Ottawa Press Conference". 2013-10-31.
- ^ "Jodie Emery - IMDB". IMDb.
- ^ "Canada's 'Prince of Pot' released after arrest in Montreal marijuana shop raids". CBC News. Retrieved 2016-12-18.
- ^ a b c "Guilty pleas and an inside look at the Cannabis Culture business". 2017-12-18.
- ^ a b "Pot activists Marc and Jodie Emery plead guilty to drug-related charges | National Post". National Post. 2017-12-18.
- ^ "Pot activists Marc and Jodie Emery plead guilty, sentenced in drug-related court case". cbc.ca/news. 2017-12-18. Retrieved 2017-12-18.
- ^ "Jodie Emery for MLA 2009 - In The News".
- ^ "National Post OpEd". 2012-04-20.
- ^ "Huffington Post OpEd". 18 November 2012.
- ^ Emery, Jodie (2014-10-30). "The Guardian".
- ^ "Liberal candidacy - Issues".
- ^ "The Princess of Pot - Ideacity conference".
- ^ "Broadcast Yourself". YouTube. Archived from the original on 2013-10-06. Retrieved 2010-08-01.
- ^ "'Cannabis queen' Jodie Emery files to run for federal Liberals in Vancouver East". Sarah Boesveld. National Post. 2014-09-08. Retrieved 2014-10-04.
- ^ "Statement of Votes - 40th Provincial General Election" (PDF). Elections BC. Retrieved 17 May 2017.
- ^ Crawford, Tiffany; January 17, Glenda Luymes Updated (18 January 2019). "Marc Emery, Canada's 'Prince of Pot,' accused of sexual harassment | Vancouver Sun". Retrieved 5 February 2019.
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