OTTAWA -- Pro-pot activist Marc Emery is offering his mea culpas to Justin Trudeau from a U.S. jail for saying he'd smoked pot a few times with the Liberal leader.
But Emery said he did get high once with Trudeau in August 2003 on a restaurant patio in Vancouver, though it was Emery "doing most of the smoking."
Trudeau said Friday Emery was "flat out lying" about the 2009 allegations, only met Emery once, and abstained from any pot use with the activist.
Emery apologized in an emailed response to questions about his remarks. In the email, forwarded to QMI Agency on Saturday by his wife Jodie Emery, he says it was a "very loose and irresponsible misrepresentation of what most people would regard '4 or 5 times.'
"I am indeed recorded telling a falsehood that until now, I was unaware was out there. I'm totally embarrassed about it. I take my reputation very seriously, as of course, does Mr. Trudeau, and I'm really saddened that I have caused him some grief by this clear misrepresentation."
Emery said a video of his remarks only began circulating online after his 2010 sentencing and incarceration in Yazoo City federal prison in Mississippi, where he's currently serving a five-year term for selling pot seeds by mail.
"I am wrong, wrong, wrong," he said. "That video was recoded in July 2009, I was clearly upset that in the 2009 session of Parliament, Mr. Trudeau supported the Conservative legislation on mandatory minimums for pot."
The video shows Emery calling the now Liberal leader a "hypocrite" for voting along with the rest of the Liberal caucus in favour of Bill C-15, which would have introduced tougher penalties for growing pot plants and saying he'd smoked pot with Trudeau on more than one occasion.
C-15 did not pass but similar legislation became law in 2012 as part of omnibus crime bill Bill C-10.
Earlier this week, Trudeau revealed he'd smoked pot "five or six" times in his life, including once about three years ago at a dinner party.
He was MP for the Montreal riding of Papineau at the time.
But Emery said he did get high once with Trudeau in August 2003 on a restaurant patio in Vancouver, though it was Emery "doing most of the smoking."
Trudeau said Friday Emery was "flat out lying" about the 2009 allegations, only met Emery once, and abstained from any pot use with the activist.
Emery apologized in an emailed response to questions about his remarks. In the email, forwarded to QMI Agency on Saturday by his wife Jodie Emery, he says it was a "very loose and irresponsible misrepresentation of what most people would regard '4 or 5 times.'
"I am indeed recorded telling a falsehood that until now, I was unaware was out there. I'm totally embarrassed about it. I take my reputation very seriously, as of course, does Mr. Trudeau, and I'm really saddened that I have caused him some grief by this clear misrepresentation."
Emery said a video of his remarks only began circulating online after his 2010 sentencing and incarceration in Yazoo City federal prison in Mississippi, where he's currently serving a five-year term for selling pot seeds by mail.
"I am wrong, wrong, wrong," he said. "That video was recoded in July 2009, I was clearly upset that in the 2009 session of Parliament, Mr. Trudeau supported the Conservative legislation on mandatory minimums for pot."
The video shows Emery calling the now Liberal leader a "hypocrite" for voting along with the rest of the Liberal caucus in favour of Bill C-15, which would have introduced tougher penalties for growing pot plants and saying he'd smoked pot with Trudeau on more than one occasion.
C-15 did not pass but similar legislation became law in 2012 as part of omnibus crime bill Bill C-10.
Earlier this week, Trudeau revealed he'd smoked pot "five or six" times in his life, including once about three years ago at a dinner party.
He was MP for the Montreal riding of Papineau at the time.
jk cracking a little fun
