VANCOUVER -- Marc Emery's homecoming party Sunday turned into a rally for Justin Trudeau as the "Prince of Pot" urged his supporters to "just show up" and vote Liberal in 2015.

Emery appeared before a crowd of hundreds in Vancouver's Victory Square park, and said next year's federal election will be a referendum on pot. Trudeau has promised that if he is elected prime minister, marijuana will be legalized.

"We've got 14 months to turn this country into a nationwide discussion on why we need to legalize marijuana," he told his cheering fans. "I think we've got a good Liberal tide coming."

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Emery and wife Jodie, who hopes to run for the Liberals next year, arrived at Vancouver International Airport Sunday at noon. It was the pot activist's first time in his hometown since before serving a five-year U.S. prison sentence for selling marijuana seeds to American customers.

While he was in prison, two states in the U.S. legalized recreational marijuana, and Emery said he believes that "a beautiful day under a legalized sun" will come soon for Canada as well.

"We're going to get this thing done, and sooner than you think," he said.

But Emery's life hasn't just been focused solely on politics since he returned to Canada Tuesday by way of Windsor, Ont. He said he's been partaking in the "sensual pleasures" of marijuana and getting his tolerance back up.

"I'm already up to, like, 15 to 20 joints a day," he said.

The 56-year-old has said he has been arrested 28 times for what he called marijuana civil disobedience. He has said he plans to go back to work at the Cannabis Culture store on Hastings Street and will continue his activism even if it means more arrests.

Emery was swarmed when he entered Victory Park Sunday afternoon and given the reverence normally afforded to religious figures.

"God bless you," Deborah-Lynn Baker said as she gripped Emery's hands.

She started smoking pot regularly at age 15 after a car crash that nearly killed her.

"I've been smoking marijuana ever since. I'm 56 years old now, and I feel great," she said in an interview.

The crowd that showed up to greet Emery included people from many different walks of life, from skateboarders and long-haired hippies, to medical pot users in wheelchairs, to middle-aged couples in cargo pants and parents with young children. While they waited for Emery to appear, they listened to reggae and speeches from activists.

West End resident Brandon, who didn't want to give his last name, sat on the edge of the crowd with his four-year-old son.

"I'm here to support Marc and Jodie," he said. "It's a positive time for the legalization movement and I wanted to be a part of this."

Sensible BC volunteer Susan Manning said she'd been collecting signatures and stuffing envelopes to support the group's campaign to end the prohibition on pot.

"I think it's healthy, relaxing for some, and has all sorts of good medical reasons to use it," she said.

Manning added that she's been smoking pot for more than 40 years, and now uses it medicinally to cope with joint problems and depression. But she worries that modern strains of marijuana have become dangerously strong.

"I would tell anyone with children to have a good talk with their children and tell them not to smoke until they finish at least high school," she said.

blindsay@vancouversun.com

Twitter.com/bethanylindsay

With a file from The Canadian Press

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