The Sign: Meeting Marc Emery and Getting Involved – Really Involved!

By Michelle Rainey. 

One afternoon in September 1998 while I was working my usual shift at the Royal Bank in Gibsons, BC, in walks Marc Emery. I’ll never forget seeing him on the news and reading about this rebel with a cause. He had moved himself and his entourage away from the raids and unsupportive Mayor at that time. 

My immediate reaction was too scream out ‘oh my god it’s The Prince of Pot, can I have your autograph’ but instead I looked around to see who was in the branch and noticed The Prince and I were alone. Oh what an opportunity this was. My heart beating as if I had run a marathon, the palms of my hands soaking wet, knowing I needed to tell him what a ‘Hero’ he was (and still is). I asked him if I could help him, he immediately responded with a yes and we started to proceed with his banking transactions. 

It was during these few minutes that I found the courage to blurt out “Mr Emery you are an amazing man, you are a hero to me, I have Crohn’s disease and am a closet smoker, it is a person like you that is going to help me and others bring Marijuana legalization to our world”. His eyes lit up thru his handsome geeky persona. His smile warmed my soul. He ran out to his car telling me to hang on, he brought back the Sept/Oct 1998 edition of Cannabis Culture Magazine. 

He signed it ‘To Bruce and Michelle: OVERGROWING THE GOVERNMENT ONE BUD AT A TIME, FEAR NO EVIL AS THE TRUTH IS ON OUR SIDE, MARC EMERY SEPT/98’. As he handed me the magazine he then began to write down his address and phone number on a separate piece of paper (which I still have) and invited  myself and then husband Bruce to come by sometime. Wow, I mean unbelievable, The Prince of Pot, at my counter depositing alimony to one of his ex-wives, which he had told me about from the get go.