'Prince of Pot' Contracts Superbug at U.S. Prison

The highly contagious MRSA bacteria has already caused more health problems for Marc Emery than dozens of years smoking pot.

Marc Emery, the self-styled “Prince of Pot,” has caught a bacterial infection while serving out a sentence for a drug conviction at a U.S. federal prison in Mississippi. Emery, a B.C. native and noted marijuana activist, has been diagnosed to have MRSA, a “superbug” that leads to painful abscesses and boils, which, in turn, can invite other treatment-resistant infections. MRSA, also known by its full name, methicillin-resistant staphylococcus aureus, is highly contagious and has spread around prisons, hospitals, and other environments where people live in close quarters. Emery, the founder of the Marijuana Party of Canada, faces at least three more years in prison for a conviction of selling marijuana seeds.