Jodie and Marc Emery found guilty of selling cannabis

9 months after being arrested in Toronto, cannabis activists and entrepreneurs Jodie and Marc Emery were sentenced to two years' probation and a fine of 195000$ each.

In addition to these fines, they will no longer be able to participate in any way in operations linked to illegal cannabis dispensaries.

The couple pleaded guilty to possession with intent to resell, and Marc, in addition, to smuggling and possession of proceeds of crime.

3 other people who worked in Cannabis Culture dispensaries were also fined, and 17 people were released as part of a settlement.

«I even suggested a year in prison, but they weren't interested,» explained Marc Emery.

The couple preferred to plead guilty rather than have a drawn-out trial, with its associated costs, and be able to negotiate the release of their employees in exchange, as Jodie explains on her Instagram.

https://www.instagram.com/p/Bc3QBScALax/

Civil disobedience and dispensaries

The Emery couple are emblematic figures of pro-cannabis activism in Canada. Cannabis Culture magazine, founded by Marc in 1994, has expanded to include cannabis dispensary franchises. In 2009, Marc was imprisoned in the United States for selling cannabis seeds by mail order. Jodie then took over to run Cannabis Culture.

The Emerys have made civil disobedience their means of activism. While Canadian cannabis dispensaries are currently prohibited from selling products to customers without a doctor's prescription, Cannabis Culture happily breaks free of this restriction and sells cannabis to anyone over the age of 18.

The issue of sourcing also came up during the trial, with the products sold in dispensaries coming mainly from illegal plantations.

Their dispensaries are run as legal businesses, and are well established. Last March, the Canadian government decided to sound the death knell for this rather overt activism with Operation Gator, when 7 Cannabis Culture dispensaries were raided.

They are often criticized for the ambiguity with which they turn their activism into a business. Like Jodie told us in September, Emery's are now very critical of the forthcoming legalizing cannabis in Canada which they see as a new prohibition in which Canada's historical cannabis players will have very little place, between government cannabis sales monopolies such as in Ontario, or the ban on self-cultivation, such as in Quebec.