VANCOUVER — Marc Emery, once hailed as the “Prince of Pot,” has come under fire after several women came forward with allegations of sexual harassment against him days before three of the Cannabis Culture dispensaries he helped start in Vancouver plan to close their doors.
The alleged incidents were made public on Twitter by Deidre Olsen, who was offered a job at Cannabis Culture in 2008, but did not take it. Emery owned Cannabis Culture in downtown Vancouver at the time. Ownership was transferred to his wife, Jodie Emery, in 2009.
In an interview Thursday, Olsen said she was traumatized by sexually suggestive emails sent to her by Emery in the past.
“They made me feel weird,” she said. “I was always so worried that my mom or my boyfriend would walk in and see these creepy emails from a man who was 50, so I would delete them really quickly.”
Now a journalist living in Toronto, Olsen alleged that Emery made unwanted sexual advances toward her when she was 17 and spending time at Cannabis Culture. She said it was common for Emery to invite girls as young as 15 to sit on his lap and smoke marijuana at the shop.
Olsen described Cannabis Culture as an old boys’ club where middle-aged men worked with vulnerable teenage girls and young women.
Olsen said many of the young women were homeless or from poor backgrounds and desperately needed the job.
“I was lucky. I came from a good home and had a very loving mother who pulled me out of [Cannabis Culture].”
Olsen never went to police and none of the allegations has been tested in court.
On Twitter, Olsen published several accounts of alleged sexual harassment written by unnamed women. A HuffPost story published Thursday contained similar allegations made by another woman.
In a Facebook post, Marc Emery denied harming anyone, but admitted he is a “touchy” guy who doesn’t always get it right when speaking openly about sex.
In the post, Emery said he has lived a “very outspoken, provocative, possibly even outrageous life” and has offended many people. He added that he is sexually outspoken, but denied that he ever had sex with anyone underage.
“I do say outrageous things but it is my sincere belief that I have never harmed anyone, or sexually aggressed anyone, in my life. I do write provocative things. I do talk about sex and in the old days 15 years ago I used to write about sex, but I have never ever had sex with anyone under 19.”
He said it wasn’t uncommon for him to smoke pot with 17-year-olds at 4/20 events, but denied ever supplying them with drugs.
Some of the allegations posted online claim Emery gave young women inappropriate back rubs and spoke about sexual exploits that made them uncomfortable.
“I am a touchy guy probably,” he said on Facebook. “But I would like to think that it was modest non-sexual touching always.”
He added that some staff voiced concerns to his wife, who then asked him to leave.
Emery claimed he was affectionate with Olsen but never asked her for sex while she was at Cannabis Culture.
“I regret Deidre finds the experience now traumatizing. To you Deidre, I’m sorry I went out of bounds and the experience has become unpleasant. It was immature of me and bad judgment, but I only ever felt positive and glad to know you in our correspondence.”
Cannabis Culture issued 50 layoff notices to staff this month as it prepares to close its three unlicensed Vancouver marijuana stores by the end of January.
