Greg Wycliffe - October 12, 2019


The Prince of Pot LOVES the PPC - chat w⧸ Marc Emery

Topics
legalization of cannabis politicalization of cannabis legalization
Hosted by
Greg Wycliffe
Mentioned
John Brennan Gregory Mickelson Maurice Duplessis Atlas Shroud Mike
The Toronto Star vs. Maxime Bernier THIN ICE - Protest Song to our Prime Minister

Episode Stats


Length

9 minutes

Words per minute

191.7

Word count

1,879

Sentence count

161

Harmful content

Misogyny

1

sentences flagged

Toxicity

10

sentences flagged

Hate speech

6

sentences flagged


Summary

Summaries generated with gmurro/bart-large-finetuned-filtered-spotify-podcast-summ .

In this episode, I sit down with Mark Emery, sometimes known as The Prince of Pot, to talk about his experience with legalization in Canada. We talk about what it's like to live in a country where pot is legal, what it s like to be a black market grower, and what it means for the rest of us.

Transcript

Transcript generated with Whisper (turbo).
Misogyny classifications generated with MilaNLProc/bert-base-uncased-ear-misogyny .
Toxicity classifications generated with s-nlp/roberta_toxicity_classifier .
Hate speech classifications generated with facebook/roberta-hate-speech-dynabench-r4-target .
Topics generated with Qwen2.5-3B-Instruct.
Hosts, guests, and mentioned names generated with spaCy (en_core_web_sm), reconciled against Wikidata.
00:00:00.000 Ask me specifically, is this live? You good?
00:00:03.100 Yeah.
00:00:03.480 Hi, Greg Michael with the People's Party of Canada, Parkdale High Park.
00:00:05.920 I'm with a man who needs no introduction.
00:00:07.980 But I'll introduce myself anyway.
00:00:09.220 My name is Mark Emery.
00:00:10.600 First of all, sometimes known as the Prince of Pot,
00:00:12.600 but I've made an adult career out of going to jails and prisons,
00:00:15.360 40 of them all together,
00:00:16.300 in campaigns of civil disobedience for the last 30 years.
00:00:19.520 And I'm an Ayn Rand acolyte,
00:00:21.840 and it was 40 years ago this week that I first read Atlas Shroud,
00:00:26.180 and it changed my life.
00:00:27.400 So I'm here in this election, supporting the People's Party candidates,
00:00:30.760 and Greg, I came to see you later.
00:00:32.800 Thank you.
00:00:33.400 Yeah, it was great.
00:00:34.840 Tell me about this transition we've experienced of legalizing pot.
00:00:38.760 I mean, you're somebody who must know all about that.
00:00:41.120 It's been sad.
00:00:42.120 See, what I learned about the term legalization
00:00:44.340 is it's literally a surrender to the government
00:00:47.120 to make all the rules and regulations.
00:00:50.220 And the Cannabis Act was done so cynically,
00:00:53.400 it tends to enrich only the police,
00:00:55.580 the bureaucracy, Health Canada bureaucracy,
00:00:58.300 they have thousands of new employees,
00:01:00.600 and all the Health Canada's,
00:01:02.000 our provincial health departments have new employees.
00:01:04.400 COPS got a huge increase in their budget,
00:01:06.620 $250 million.
00:01:07.860 COPS and politicians are on the boards
00:01:10.400 of 45 of these cannabis companies,
00:01:13.180 and they've made it so that you have to have so much money
00:01:15.380 to open a shop,
00:01:17.180 and so much money to open a manufacturer of cannabis,
00:01:20.740 that all the ordinary people that make up the culture
00:01:23.320 are excluded.
00:01:24.500 We're still criminals if we sell pot.
00:01:26.660 We're still criminals if we grow more than four plants.
00:01:29.180 We can't open a marijuana-producing facility
00:01:32.060 unless we've got fantastic resources,
00:01:34.820 like over a million dollars.
00:01:35.780 So unfortunately,
00:01:37.500 it's turned into a very bad situation
00:01:41.160 where thousands of Canadians are still being arrested,
00:01:43.500 even though it's legal,
00:01:44.480 and then all the revenue is being funneled
00:01:47.800 into the people who are completely opposed to legalization.
00:01:50.000 Big corporations, politicians,
00:01:52.680 the Health Canada bureaucracy,
00:01:53.880 and it's sad, sad, sad.
00:01:57.620 And so what I learned is that must be
00:01:59.660 how all legislation is done.
00:02:01.580 Cynically applied, preferential, biased, bigoted,
00:02:05.480 and destined ultimately to hurt the people
00:02:08.820 that the legislation is said is supposed to help,
00:02:12.060 because that's what happened to us.
00:02:13.680 And did at any point anyone from the government
00:02:15.840 reach out to you, Princess Popper,
00:02:17.740 any guidance for anyone?
00:02:19.040 No, at my shop on Church Street,
00:02:20.740 which was the greatest shop of all time,
00:02:22.380 you're never going to see one legal or illegal,
00:02:24.460 otherwise it was nicer.
00:02:26.000 And no one is consulting me.
00:02:27.740 We sold $7 million.
00:02:29.420 You know what?
00:02:30.320 They currently require you to have to open a shop,
00:02:32.560 a legal shop.
00:02:33.280 You have to prove you have $300,000 in cash available
00:02:37.400 to buy your opening inventory.
00:02:39.240 I started the cannabis culture on Church Street
00:02:41.220 by borrowing $42,000 from a friend.
00:02:45.100 $24,000 went to the first three months' rent.
00:02:47.620 I had $15,000 to buy inventory,
00:02:51.100 and I used $2,000 to paint the place
00:02:53.760 and furnish it with furniture.
00:02:56.440 And $15,000 worth of weed
00:02:58.500 turned into $7 million in sales
00:03:01.420 in the space of six and a half months.
00:03:04.100 And anybody can do that.
00:03:05.560 That was my whole idea.
00:03:06.860 Anybody can do this.
00:03:08.400 But now the government, of course, 0.99
00:03:09.380 has fucked it up 0.92
00:03:10.080 and left it only to the very wealthy, 0.94
00:03:12.560 the well-heeled big corporations,
00:03:14.340 cops, politicians,
00:03:15.300 all the people who were against us ever being legal
00:03:19.360 are now the people who are exploiting it.
00:03:21.760 I wanted to ask,
00:03:22.900 because it might be better to ask this way,
00:03:24.560 is there anything good
00:03:25.980 about the way politicalization has been rolled out?
00:03:29.120 Is there anything good?
00:03:29.760 The good thing about it was
00:03:30.800 that it was a good example worldwide
00:03:32.380 to inspire others to legalize.
00:03:34.380 And I have been traveling the globe much of this time
00:03:36.900 telling people,
00:03:37.760 don't screw it up like Canada.
00:03:39.560 What you can do is you can do it like Uruguay.
00:03:41.520 Uruguay people can grow six plants.
00:03:43.880 The government sells it for $2 a gram.
00:03:46.560 Then you can go into a club
00:03:47.860 where they can grow huge numbers of plants.
00:03:50.000 Uruguay has an enormous surplus of cannabis
00:03:53.100 and it's very cheap.
00:03:54.540 It's just $2 US a gram.
00:03:56.420 Colombia allows people to grow 20 plants.
00:03:58.560 If you can grow 20 plants of your own of any size,
00:04:01.400 then you have substantially ended the black market
00:04:04.080 because that is enough for everybody
00:04:06.400 to have as much cannabis as they want.
00:04:08.720 But the problem is you still can't sell in Colombia.
00:04:10.980 So a tourist might have a difficult time.
00:04:13.480 But for the actual citizens, it's a good system.
00:04:15.760 In South Africa, the Constitutional Court
00:04:17.860 has said that anyone can grow
00:04:19.620 an unlimited amount of cannabis.
00:04:21.740 And I know people who are growing
00:04:22.740 hundreds and hundreds of plants.
00:04:24.320 And in order for them to charge you with trafficking,
00:04:26.340 they have to prove you're selling it.
00:04:28.000 So there's a lot of better regimes in the world
00:04:30.300 than in Canada.
00:04:31.240 But I will say one good thing came out of it.
00:04:33.460 You can smoke cannabis anywhere in Ontario
00:04:35.600 on the street
00:04:36.340 and you won't risk an interdiction
00:04:38.540 with a police officer.
00:04:39.500 And that's one good thing.
00:04:41.660 So there's one good thing.
00:04:42.640 Amazing.
00:04:43.480 While I have you,
00:04:44.280 we're going to get kicked out of here soon,
00:04:45.480 but while I have you...
00:04:47.220 By the way, I love People's Party.
00:04:48.620 I love Max and Bernier.
00:04:49.820 I'm totally down with every platform.
00:04:51.920 Love all the candidates.
00:04:53.040 Giving lots of money to Max at head office
00:04:55.420 as well as all the candidates in the GTA
00:04:57.320 at a cross candidate,
00:04:58.500 whatever the maximum was,
00:04:59.600 $1,600.
00:04:59.900 I just completed it today
00:05:01.780 and I'm going to be going to meetings.
00:05:04.160 Hey, anybody watching,
00:05:05.480 I will help hold up your signs at interception.
00:05:08.060 Give me a thing.
00:05:08.720 I've got lots of time
00:05:09.720 between now and the election
00:05:10.700 to help out any candidate.
00:05:12.260 Let's get specific for one minute.
00:05:13.560 And if you like,
00:05:14.220 I'll give you a one-hour tutorial
00:05:15.520 on how to do an all-candidates meeting,
00:05:17.440 how to go door-to-door.
00:05:18.360 I've been in 12 elections as a candidate.
00:05:21.020 I've organized 79 candidates in British Columbia.
00:05:24.120 I've done everything that's possible in an election
00:05:26.240 and I can help you properly manage efficiently your time.
00:05:30.280 Right?
00:05:30.860 Get on those busy intersections.
00:05:32.840 You hold up a sign.
00:05:34.140 I estimate 5,000 to 10,000 people
00:05:36.740 go by a major intersection in one hour.
00:05:40.300 And that, holding up your sign
00:05:41.900 with your website, social media,
00:05:44.940 your name and the party,
00:05:46.460 that's all you need to do.
00:05:47.460 Just 2x4.
00:05:48.980 It's amazingly effective.
00:05:50.240 Much better than lawn signs.
00:05:51.700 Lawn signs get destroyed.
00:05:53.020 They get stolen.
00:05:54.020 People keep them as souvenirs.
00:05:55.320 They don't even put them up.
00:05:56.780 Right?
00:05:57.260 They're wasteful.
00:05:58.340 They're wasteful.
00:05:59.000 Just get 12 Choroplast signs made up
00:06:01.800 and get 12 volunteers
00:06:03.040 at three intersections
00:06:04.340 in your riding every day
00:06:06.500 if you can
00:06:07.260 for three to four hours.
00:06:08.740 It's going to make a big difference.
00:06:10.280 We should have you work in a headquarters. 0.99
00:06:11.640 No, you should.
00:06:12.560 The only problem is
00:06:13.560 I kind of made it look like I was available,
00:06:16.180 but I'd have to get a combination
00:06:17.560 because I think that's in Gatineau.
00:06:18.960 But actually,
00:06:19.880 I wouldn't mind doing a Toronto coordination center.
00:06:22.400 But that might be for the next election.
00:06:24.400 You talked about
00:06:25.300 you're a successful entrepreneur
00:06:27.280 in bad ways.
00:06:28.340 You know,
00:06:28.660 you make $7 million
00:06:29.560 selling pods
00:06:30.480 in the wild west.
00:06:31.340 Yeah, but it went to half a million
00:06:32.500 of us.
00:06:32.960 But I talked about
00:06:33.820 personal responsibility
00:06:34.860 in the debate tonight
00:06:35.700 or, you know,
00:06:36.580 personal.
00:06:37.060 Which is totally lacking
00:06:38.100 when every other party,
00:06:39.620 it's all spend, spend, spend.
00:06:41.160 More government power,
00:06:42.160 more government control.
00:06:43.540 I mean,
00:06:43.900 we're going to end up
00:06:44.540 de-industrializing this country
00:06:46.180 and at the same time
00:06:47.300 promising everybody
00:06:48.460 of every age group
00:06:49.560 of every family
00:06:50.320 an unparalleled standard of living
00:06:52.960 when we're all living primitives.
00:06:55.900 It's not possible.
00:06:57.500 It's crazy.
00:06:58.620 And I'm generally worried
00:06:59.780 because all my life
00:07:01.060 I've seen this kind of social.
00:07:02.900 But they are really clamoring
00:07:05.280 to spend us
00:07:06.640 into unbelievable debt.
00:07:08.280 You know,
00:07:08.840 if kids are worried
00:07:10.080 about climate change,
00:07:11.180 they should worry
00:07:11.760 about the national debt
00:07:13.140 and all these obligations
00:07:14.560 that these politicians of today
00:07:16.280 are imposing on the young people 0.99
00:07:18.540 of tomorrow.
00:07:19.780 It's going to be tragic.
00:07:21.160 I was going to mention
00:07:22.180 that in my final comments
00:07:23.880 and say, you know,
00:07:25.140 we should be just as worried
00:07:26.200 about a global recession.
00:07:27.780 You know,
00:07:28.060 I don't want to fear longer
00:07:29.280 or anything.
00:07:29.900 I don't want to say
00:07:30.420 we're going to, you know,
00:07:31.180 die in 10 years
00:07:32.220 or anything like that,
00:07:33.100 but we should be worried
00:07:34.060 about a global recession.
00:07:35.860 Well, you know,
00:07:36.080 these politicians have made
00:07:37.080 such tremendous commitments.
00:07:38.440 The only way
00:07:38.940 they can even be remotely made
00:07:40.420 is if we keep,
00:07:41.840 have this robust
00:07:42.760 economic activity going.
00:07:44.820 But it's going to grind
00:07:45.760 to a halt
00:07:46.380 because there's just
00:07:47.080 too many impediments
00:07:47.960 on business,
00:07:48.880 too much red tape,
00:07:50.040 Trump's going crazy
00:07:50.960 with tariffs.
00:07:52.000 Tariffs are being imposed
00:07:53.800 while we're being taxed.
00:07:55.140 While we're going
00:07:55.820 into deficit spending.
00:07:57.060 Let's speak positively,
00:07:58.240 too, about the People's Party
00:07:59.420 in Canada
00:07:59.740 because we want to
00:08:00.620 correct that.
00:08:01.720 There's only positive things.
00:08:03.160 I've never met a racist.
00:08:04.280 I've never heard
00:08:04.720 racist sentiment.
00:08:05.780 You look at the
00:08:06.260 Bloc Quebecois,
00:08:07.580 last night,
00:08:08.240 they actually sent out
00:08:09.240 a tweet saying,
00:08:10.140 vote for us
00:08:10.860 because we look
00:08:11.560 just like you
00:08:12.460 and you look
00:08:13.980 just like us.
00:08:14.800 And that's basically
00:08:15.380 calling, yes,
00:08:16.520 it's checked by Twitter.
00:08:17.700 It's calling on
00:08:18.400 the old stock
00:08:19.180 that's the Quebec nativist
00:08:20.760 to vote against
00:08:21.900 any Anglophone,
00:08:23.040 vote against Jews, 0.96
00:08:24.000 vote against Muslims, 0.97
00:08:24.920 vote against, 0.79
00:08:25.620 you know,
00:08:25.900 anybody not like them.
00:08:27.780 Right?
00:08:28.020 That's a very important
00:08:29.300 and racist statement
00:08:30.760 that the Bloc is saying.
00:08:32.160 And they're counting on that.
00:08:33.960 They're basically saying,
00:08:35.220 look at Jagmeet Singh.
00:08:36.240 You want him
00:08:36.940 to be making decisions
00:08:38.280 for you?
00:08:39.080 Because look how he looks.
00:08:40.540 Right?
00:08:40.920 And yet they call him
00:08:41.620 Maxime,
00:08:42.160 who's never said
00:08:42.800 a racist thing
00:08:43.420 in his life.
00:08:44.200 I've known the guy
00:08:44.760 for years.
00:08:45.780 And yet the Bloc 0.98
00:08:46.500 is avowedly racist,
00:08:48.260 avowedly discriminatory, 0.99
00:08:50.060 avowedly fascist,
00:08:51.420 as has always been
00:08:52.240 a Quebec tradition.
00:08:53.540 You go back
00:08:53.860 to Maurice Duplessis
00:08:54.900 and the Quebec politics,
00:08:57.320 they've always
00:08:57.680 not liked Jews, 0.99
00:08:58.860 they don't like Muslims, 1.00
00:09:00.000 they're not happy 0.97
00:09:00.780 with Sikhs,
00:09:01.760 they want you to vote
00:09:02.620 for people just like me.
00:09:05.080 And I think the Bloc 1.00
00:09:05.940 is the biggest danger,
00:09:07.200 along with socialism,
00:09:08.280 generally,
00:09:08.800 that we're facing
00:09:09.560 in this life.
00:09:10.480 Wow.
00:09:11.100 And Maxine Bernier
00:09:11.840 is the only guy
00:09:12.320 who wants to unite
00:09:13.020 the country.
00:09:13.780 Absolutely.
00:09:14.440 Max is the best.
00:09:15.880 You know,
00:09:16.480 I've spent my life
00:09:17.540 going to jail
00:09:18.280 to do the right thing,
00:09:19.740 to promote
00:09:20.420 the right philosophies,
00:09:21.920 to promote freedom,
00:09:23.020 individual initiative,
00:09:24.140 individual responsibility,
00:09:25.820 justice.
00:09:26.980 I wouldn't be putting
00:09:27.760 my name on a guy
00:09:29.120 like Max
00:09:29.620 if he had anything
00:09:30.880 like what our enemies say.
00:09:32.760 Max is the perfect
00:09:33.620 politician.
00:09:34.460 He's a gentleman.
00:09:35.520 He's a decent guy.
00:09:36.720 He's got the right ideas.
00:09:37.940 I love him.
00:09:38.560 Thanks for watching,
00:09:41.160 guys.
00:09:41.420 We'll talk to you soon.
00:09:42.600 And thanks so much,
00:09:43.780 Mike.
00:09:44.480 Good to be here.
00:09:45.340 Let's get out.
00:09:45.880 He's waiting for us.
00:09:46.820 He's been polite.
00:09:47.520 Thanks very much.