Chat transcript:
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/discussion/2006/03/20/DI2006032001051.html
Chat excerpts:
____________________
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 likelihood 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 typically 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 paradigm 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 parameters. 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 been before a court for the hundreds of thousands of tobacco deaths directly related to their products. Same with Smith-Wesson, Ford Motor Company (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 doctor 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 tumors. a 1974 World Health Org study showed that THC injected into rates shrank tumors 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 tumors. 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, cocaine, 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 martyr 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 propagandist 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.
_______________________
Montreal, Quebec: 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 Canadian 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 initiatives, 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 megalomania, 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.
_______________________
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/discussion/2006/03/20/DI2006032001051.html
Chat excerpts:
____________________
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 likelihood 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 typically 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 paradigm 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 parameters. 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 been before a court for the hundreds of thousands of tobacco deaths directly related to their products. Same with Smith-Wesson, Ford Motor Company (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 doctor 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 tumors. a 1974 World Health Org study showed that THC injected into rates shrank tumors 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 tumors. 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, cocaine, 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 martyr 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 propagandist 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.
_______________________
Montreal, Quebec: 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 Canadian 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 initiatives, 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 megalomania, 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.
_______________________
