Police arrested Cannabis Culture publisher Marc Emery in Winnipeg, Manitoba, on 9 July 2003 as he tried to light his “Canucks Bong” at a smoke-in outside police headquarters.[1][2] It was the first stop of a planned 16-city cross-country Summer of Legalization tour, launched on Emery’s claim that recent Ontario court decisions had effectively legalized cannabis possession across Canada.[1][3] Officers found no marijuana on him beyond what was allegedly packed in the bowl about to be lit.[1]
Emery was held overnight at the Winnipeg Remand Centre to appear before a magistrate at 10 a.m. on 10 July, and he missed his planned stop in Dauphin, Manitoba, the next day after being arrested and detained.[1][3] He appeared that morning and was freed about 3 p.m. on $500 bail, on conditions including committing no further offences, and phoned the 200-strong Dauphin rally instead of attending.[4] He called it his eleventh cannabis arrest and ninth jailing.[4] The tour continued east: police left his Halifax rally alone but jailed him again overnight in Moncton, New Brunswick, later that month.[3]
