The “Prince of Pot” still isn’t sure when he’ll be returning home, but he knows his release from a correctional facility in the United States is getting closer.
Marc Emery expects to be back in Canada sometime between a week and two weeks from Thursday, he told CTV News by phone from the Tensas Parish Detention Center in Waterproof, La.
The town is named for its distinction as the only high ground in the area when the Mississippi River floods, a backstory with “a lot more romance than this facility would deserve,” Emery said.
Armed with his New York Times subscription and trivial facts about the town he’s in, Emery seemed to be in good spirits after his release from federal prison three weeks ago.
“After four and a half years in prison, an extra week or two really isn’t that much in the big picture,” he said.
Emery said he won’t know he’s being sent home until 24 hours before it happens. When it does, he’ll be repatriated to Windsor, Ont., where he plans to spend less than a day before heading to Toronto to visit his family for a few days before flying back to Vancouver.
The circuitous route isn’t a choice, Emery said. Windsor happens to be the only place the U.S. releases prisoners to Canada, and it’s difficult to get an affordable cross-country plane ticket on a few hours notice, he said.
Once he’s back in Vancouver, he won’t be here for long. Emery said he’s already scheduled speaking engagements in Spain, Ireland, Amsterdam, and the Czech Republic. He’s also planning a speaking tour of colleges and universities in January and a federal-election tour in September and October 2015.
Emery said he’s eager to get back to work after being “a liability” to his wife Jodie during his sentence. He said he cost his wife $65,000 during that time, not including the cost of her travel for 82 visits to see him in prison.
“I’m in debt, and I have to start earning money,” Emery said. “That’s really job one.”
Job two will be to campaign against the Conservatives in next year’s election, which Emery hopes will bring the Liberal Party to power and with it the legalization of marijuana.
The shift in public opinion on legalization in Canada and the U.S. since he was incarcerated -- exemplified by voters in Washington and Colorado approving measures to make pot legal last year -- has not taken Emery by surprise.
He said he always expected to be sent to prison as part of his advocacy for marijuana legalization, and he’s relishing the “rich ironies” the shift in public opinion has created. Some of the people who prosecuted for marijuana offenses are now advocates for legalization, he said.
“Everything I wanted to have happen has happened,” Emery said. “The battle is going totally our way, and that’s wonderful to notice whether I’m in prison or not.”
