• May 2001 – Victoria’s Times Colonist publishes article where Ted speaks against marijuana party.


• July 26 – Dana Larsen complains to Hempology Website about Ted’s lack of support – Poll put on hempology website asking public opinion on the issue.


• August 31 – Ted posts his replies to the BC Marijuana Party’s allegations to the hempology website. Shortly after, an anonymous poster copies the reply to the message boards of the Cannabis Culture website.


• September 12 – Marc posts his reply to Ted on the Cannabis Culture website.

And now, Ted’s latest response…

At the risk of appearing to be an asshole to the ignorant, my conscience will not allow me to remain quiet. While part of me would like to totally ignore Marc Emery, in reality I cannot continue to ignore all of the lies and misleading statements that are being made about my work and the other problems happening in the movement. While many people are telling lies about me, I cannot ignore the ones in writing.

Before I dive into the debate further I believe I should say that Dana Larson, the editor of Cannabis Culture, has perhaps been drawn into this by his boss, Mr. Emery. My earlier letter refering to Dana was done in response to an e-mail sent to me using his address, but it appears from Mr. Emery’s letter of the CC web-page forum that Marc wrote the first letter which began this argument. Whichever is the case, I feel for Dana who is a bright, energetic activist committed to the cause being drawn into a number of difficult situations due to the irrational behaviour of his employer.

The last letter from Marc claims that he has never supported me because I have never asked for help. This not only contradicts the first e-mail which stated that Dana and Marc have both been big supporters of mine, but it is also a flat lie. Perhaps Mr. Emery puts down, ignores and shuts out so many people who don’t agree with him that he cannot remember everyone. It was, after all, over 5 years ago when he told me that providing education and medical marijuana were not only futile efforts, but that the long-haired hippy look really hurt the movement and that I was doing more harm than good by starting these endeavors which were bound to fail.

The next misleading statement he makes is when he says he has not confused his support for the VI Compassion Society with support for Hempology 101. I was accusing him of confusing VISC with the VI Cannabis Buyers Club, not Hempology 101. It was in the first letter and CC Nov 2000 that I claim Marc and his crew exclude the VICBC from history, making it appear as though his donation to the VICS supported the only medical marijuana group in Victoria.

Mr. Emery questions my delays in writing responses to his statements, wondering why I wrote my letter so long after the election. First he should note that he started this war of words after the election, not me. Secondly, while he may feel comfortable quickly writing responses without thinking, I prefer to take my time to consider every angle and fact possible before expressing my thoughts.

The addition of the extra agenda of the BC Marijuana Party was the beginning of the problems I am having with Marc right now. This was done to gain wider public support, and Marc told me personally that we had not won the fight in the streets, courts or newspapers and the only way to change the laws was to take over the government and write new ones. However, in a letter he wrote in the CC forum he admitted that the BCMP had very little chance of every sitting in government, something which not only contradicts what he has said, but which is an excellent argument against having other issues on the party’s platform. The extra party platform and future plans of opening hemp stores with compassion clubs in the back not only divides supporters but questions the direction of any potential global marijuana party. The clubs are only planned for BC and Alberta, not the rest of Canada, and other provinces have issues which may start to appear on their agenda. For example, the Quebec party, where all this started with Bloc Pot, is considering adding seperatism to their issues, something that would fall in line with the general anti-government slant of Mr. Emery.

If I had my way, the BCMP would stick to arguing against the War On Drugs and drop it’s extra agenda.

By not addressing the issues I raised regarding the BC Marijuana Party, he basically concedes to my arguments. If by avoiding my statements Mr. Emery hopes to avoid controversy, then he has no real understanding of politics and should never have engaged in it. No political party should be directly involved in business activities, especially private health care. What would people say if the Liberal Party was to open a drug store, or if the Alliance Party opened a gun shop?

When people find out that the BC Compassion Society based in Vancouver did not support the BCMP in the last election they begin to seriously question what is happening to the movement. Even though Mr. Emery donated money to them to help move into their location and has helped with other legal costs while heavily promoting thier activities, they did not try to convince people to support him in the election.

If you still doubt what I say about Mr. Emery, you really don’t need to look any further than another section of the CC web-page forum which quotes the man himself saying, “this Party is my responsibility and all bills, last I checked, were paid for by me.. anyone who persists in this weird rebellion is going to be told to go elsewhere, set up your own political party and employ whatever money you have at that task. This is the BC Marijuana Party and it takes direction from me…any more nutty, time-wasting dissent is not an option.”

Some may speculate that I am attacking Marc because I am jealous of him, or feel threatened because he intends upon opening other medical marijuana clubs which would be competition for the growing number of chapters that I am helping organize. This could not be further from the truth, as anyone who knows what I am doing in Victoria will see that I am very well established with a large foundation of local support which has matured and is growing stronger ever day. I am very secure in who I am and what I am doing.

The reason I am responding to Mr. Emery’s statements like this is because I am sick of witnessing people in the cannabis culture distort the truth in order to make themselves appear better to the public. I refuse to allow my integrity to be questioned by appearing to be associated with opportunists, tyrants, liars, perverts or other social deviants no matter how powerful or influencial they are in the world. The most valuable thing I have is my honour and I am prepared to defend myself against any accusation thrown at me.

You can make up your own mind about who is right or wrong about these issues as you look through the past and future letters Mr. Emery and I are writing to each other. The truth will prevail.

- Ted Smith
  ted@hempology.com

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