The queen of Canada’s movement to legalize marijuana has not been afraid to cultivate her undeniable girl-next-door charm – or invite controversy – for the cause. And now, an escalating series of police raids that have shut down the Cannabis Culture chain of dispensaries she helped build may put her behind bars for a long time. But Jodie Emery is still talking about the next fight, even while others in the movement wonder if her free-for-all style is doing more harm than good. Would the cannabis cause really be better off without her?
Jodie Emery types eagerly on her iPhone. “This is a good one,” she says.
We’re barely a minute into our interview at a small Ethiopian restaurant near the gay village, and she’s on Twitter calling out Toronto police. It’s absurd, she says, that they’re spending resources raiding marijuana dispensaries with legalization just around the bend.
Where the TPS is concerned, Emery can be forgiven for seeming a bit spiteful.
It’s just shy of three weeks since she and her husband, Marc Emery, who’s riding shotgun tonight, were arrested at Pearson International Airport (on their way to a marijuana expo in Spain) and…