The so-called "Prince of Pot" launched his farewell tour in Calgary, Sunday Marc Emery has given up his long fight to avoid extradition to the United States for selling cannabis seeds. He plans to turn himself-in to authorities in Seattle in September.
When he landed at Calgary International Airport - the first stop on a 32-city farewell tour - Emery and his wife Jodie where greeted by pot activists.
"I'm being taken to a U.S. prison for something I did in Canada as innocuous as selling seeds which don't even have any drug quality. And yet, I have to face a five year term for that,'' he said.
"It's difficult to say what will happen in a U.S. federal penitentiary, It's never very pleasant. American jails aren't run nearly as well as Canadian jails,'' he told a CTV News reporter.
Emery has been arrested more than a dozen in his 20 years of activism.
He's on tour to bid farewell to his friends and encourage them to keep up the fight to legalize cannabis.
"I'm going away for a long time so I expect everybody to do their best and pick up the slack for me,'' Emery said.
Calgary cannabis activist Keith Fagan says Emery's farewell tour helps keep the issue in the public eye.
"It does help to get the message out there that Marc and I don't agree on everything. He is a smoke cannabis out in the public [advocate] and I'm of course not. But we still work together. We're still friends,'' Fagan said.
Emery wants activists to fight Bill C-15. The federal bill will introduce mandatory minimum sentences for marijuana in Canada. It has passed the House of Commons and it is currently before the Senate.
"Get rid of the Conservatives, I know that's difficult in Alberta to even succeed in doing, let alone say, but that's what's required,'' Emery said.
Emery says the NDP, the Bloc, and the Green Party are all Cannabis-friendly political parties that activists should support.
With a report by CTV News Calgary's Kari Eyles
