David Malmo-Levine is on this earth to enjoy himself and leave the world in slightly better condition than when he arrived. He noticed at a very early age he was good at putting information in order (he practiced with his comic book collection). Later on, he got interested in marijuana and history. In 1992 he began writing about hemp and marijuana in the University of Alberta newspaper. In 1993 he began to organize smoke ins. In 1995 he was flown from Edmonton to Vancouver by Marc Emery and was hired as the “in house” activist.

In 1996 he quit working for Marc and started the “Harm Reduction Club” – an out of the closet pot dealing operation. He was busted in 1996 and again in 1997 for trafficking – and defended himself in court all the way to the Supreme Court of Canada. After losing at the Supreme Court in 2004, he opened up the “Herb School” – a place which conducted drug war history walking tours, cultivation classes and sold cannabis and other herbs on the down low. The Herb School was raided by police in 2008 and Malmo-Levine once again unsuccessfully defended himself. He spent 4 months in Fraser Regional Correctional Center and was released Feb. 26, 2010. David has appeared in many news stories and documentaries including “Escape to Canada”, “The Prince of Pot” and “The Union”.

Where did you grow up?

Edmonton, Alberta – south side.

What is your personal relationship with cannabis?

It is my favorite stimulant, relaxant and euphoric … and second favorite anti-depressant (after cacao). It is one of my favorite aphrodisiacs, and helps with insight and the creation of epiphanies. I find a little goes a long way – one or two puffs per day maximum.

What is your professional relationship with cannabis?

I am a proud cannabis user and hope to one day be a proud cannabis dealer. I have a “Herb Museum” on the second floor of the BC Marijuana Party Headquarters that I hope to open up soon. I am a cannabis activist – an educator and agitator and exterior decorator (poster-putter-upper). I help to organize some of Canada’s largest smoke-ins …. April 20th and July 1st at the Vancouver Art Gallery.

What was it like defending yourself in Court?

I like defending myself … although I usually try and convince a
lawyer to be around in case the crown starts speaking in Latin to the
judge.

I find it a bit frustrating when the judges don’t play fair. They
pretend they find nothing wrong with your argument and then save up
all their concerns for their decision instead of sharing them with you
in court where you would have a chance to address them. I always read
my decisions shaking my head at the sketchy logic they employ to
justify retaining the laws and the punishments.

For example, the Supreme Court of Canada argued that cannabis users
were similar to cannibals, people who abuse animals, people who commit
incest and pimps – and then claimed there was no such thing as the
harm principle – two things I found quite easy to argue against. The
harm principle is found in documents such as right #5 of the Leveler’s
“An Agreement of the People” (the world’s first constitution), rights
#4 and #5 of The French “Declaration of the Rights of Man and of
Citizen” (the first constitution to be adopted by a Nation and put
into law), John Stuart Mill’s “On Liberty” (where the political rights
found in the Canadian Constitution originate – found in the very next
sentence after they are mentioned … page #15 of my copy of On
Liberty). The argument that cannabis users are as harmful as those
other groups is irrational – cannibals make people feel threatened
(“am I dinner?”), people who abuse animals are abusive, people who
commit incest deny their family members the sanctuary of the home and
people who pimp are often (but not always) involved in an exploitative
enterprise (of course it could be argued that many employers fall into
the same category) … but the proper growing, distributing and using
of cannabis does not involve making people feel threatened, abusing
anything, denying anyone anything or exploiting anyone.

For another example, the latest Judge to rule against me argued that
“no one is above the law” – this too seemed irrational. Maybe nobody
is above “natural law” which is a fancy term for “reason”, but
everyone should be above positive law because law makers make mistakes
and if it wasn’t for civil disobedient people we would still have
slavery, women would still not be able to vote, alcohol would still be
illegal, their would still be segregation in the US and England would
still be running things in India. Those people who hid Jews during
World War Two were “above the law” – and thank goodness they were, or
else many more would have died from bad laws.

I guess becoming a political prisoner is the cost of doing business as
a cannabis activist – but I strongly believe that it’s better to be
busted on your own terms and then argue against the very foundations
of the law than it is to cower under your sheets and get picked off
one by one, late at night when nobody is watching and nobody hears
about it.

What got you interested in becoming an advocate for cannabis?  Tell The Bong Girl readers your evolution in the beginning?

I went to a comedy performance by the Three Dead Trolls in a Baggie called “Saskatchebuzz” about the province of Saskatchewan legalizing marijuana. They were selling copies of the Emperor Wears No Clothes… this would probably be early 1992. I’ve been hooked on cannabis activism ever since.

How have you matured in your evolution that makes you smile inside?

I’m not sure if I’ve really matured … I’ve always been a clown … I just have more jokes than I did before.

Who/what continues to inspire you?

Cannabis activists that continue to be committed to the cause in spite of being punished … righteous growers and dealers … activists in other social justice and human rights areas … people who teach me things and find new ways of teaching everyone things … documentary film makers.

Who/what challenges you to continue being an advocate?

Cannabis re-legalization – I feel – is the key to ending poverty, oil wars/climate change/pollution, the ever-expanding police state and the sad fact that there is often no good weed to be found in many parts of the world. What may be at stake is human evolution and human survival- not a goal that can be abandoned in the face of jail or even death.

If the federal government came to you requesting a blueprint on legalization of cannabis, what would your plan look like.  In this scenario you are the Cannabis Czar with complete authority in all arenas.

Economics:
Anyone can grow cannabis and everyone can sell cannabis except for people who have a history of poisoning other people (ie pharmaceutical corporations that have been found guilty of unethical behavior) …anything over 100 plants, any medicinal seed sales and any sales to cafes are taxable.

Medicine:
Cannabis and cannabis seeds should be covered under the health care system – free for sick people. Naturopaths, herbalists and doctors should all have the power to prescribe cannabis.

Social Policy:
No impaired driving (impairment testing, not saliva/urine/blood testing). Teens should have parental permission to purchase cannabis. Pot cafes should be licensed to prevent the mix of soft and hard drugs and to discourage other crimes being committed with cannabis sales as a cover.

What do you think is truly keeping cannabis from being fully legalized?  How can we bridge this challenge?

Politicians are dependent on cannabis-substitute industries for campaign contributions, and access to media which are also dependent on cannabis substitute industries for advertising and are fearful of capital flight from these corporations. These conflicts of interest have to be exposed and challenged everywhere they exist. It was a mis-information campaign that made cannabis illegal, and it will be a re-education campaign that makes it legal again.

How are the current steps working?

Public opinion is steadily growing in favor of total legalization.

Why are some of them possibly outdated or not working?

Too much reliance on politicians to do the work, too much faith that “decrim” (descrim) is a step in the right direction (despite all theevidence to the contrary:
http://www.cannabisculture.com/v2/content/descriminalization-decrim-myths-decrim-facts) and too much buying into stigma foisted upon us by prohibitionists:
http://www.cannabisculture.com/v2/node/22740

What steps would you like to see taken to strengthen the current
movement?

We should abandon the mixed-message goal of “decriminalization” and only fight for complete and total equality with the coffee bean growers, dealers and users. The definition of “medical marijuana” should be expanded to include preventive medicine such as stimulants, relaxants and anti-depressants. The range of this could be to re-enforce current methods or bring in new approaches.

What do you want someone reading this interview to do to help the cause?

Everyone should become a well-educated voice for cannabis reform. One person can’t do everything but every person can do something. People should apply their unique talents to get the message out: “We’re here, we’re high – get used to it!”

What is your favorite cannabis product?

I do like a nice joint of Afghani x Blueberry. We sold something called “Hot Girlfriend” at the Herb School that was really awesome. I also like hemp ethanol … I think it could really help save the world.

What’s your favorite TBG products?

Ceramic Travel Mug

How can The Bong Girl assist you in your advocacy?

Spread these links around … edumacate yerselves … puff tuff and keep your heads held high. Also … I’m organizing a “Herb Museum Online Art Auction” soon – a bit of help promoting that would be awesome! Keep up the good work. Everyone likes girls. Everyone likes bongs. Total dignifrication.

Links by/about David:

David’s legal arguments:

http://forums.cannabisculture.com/forums/ubbthreads.php?ubb=showflat&Number=712300&page=1

http://www.cannabisculture.com/v2/content/david-vs-goliath

David’s blog that he wrote while in prison (scroll down and check out the other pages for his prison articles):

http://www.cannabisculture.com/v2/blog/22

And here is the Herb Museum website where we sometimes sell art and other stuff

http://www.herbmuseum.ca/

If you want to check out David’s shows on Pot TV, go here:
http://pot.tv/archive/series/pottvseries-12-0.html

If you want to check out David at the Supreme Court:
http://pot.tv/archive/series/pottvseries-109-0.html

If you want to see David on CBC:
http://archives.cbc.ca/IDC-1-69-652-3582/life_society/marijuana/clip6

David’s websites:
http://www.potshot.ca/pm/
http://hemp-ethanol.blogspot.com/

David blogs and writes feature articles and facilitates forum discussions
http://www.cannabisculture.com/

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