Marc Emery responds to allegations of inappropriate contact

Marc Emery responds to accuser A woman from Metro Vancouver is accusing the self-dubbed 'Prince of Pot' of what she calls inappropriate conduct more than a decade ago.

Self-dubbed "Prince of Pot" Marc Emery responded Thursday after a woman from Metro Vancouver accused him of what she calls inappropriate contact more than a decade ago, saying he's sorry if he ever crossed the line.

Deidre Olsen was a high school student in Ladner when she first connected with Emery online, eager to be part of his pro-marijuana movement.

"It was 2008. I was 17 years old," the accuser told CTV News.

According to Olsen, their chats quickly took on a sexual nature.

"He's describing his genitalia and his sex life with his wife to me over Facebook Messenger," she said. "It was extremely uncomfortable, but it was just sort of like OK, well maybe if I put up with it, I can join the cool club."

Olsen visited downtown Vancouver that year to meet Emery in person with the hope of possibly landing a job at Cannabis Culture, which he ran at the time.

Instead, she alleges she got something else.

"I just remember sitting on his lap and smoking out of the bong," Olsen said. "It was between his legs and it implied to me that it was oral sex—the simulation of oral sex."

Olsen never ended up working for Emery. She said she never saw him again and didn't file a complaint.

Eleven years later, however, in the #MeToo era, she decided it was the right time to come forward with her story.

"I decided enough was enough," Olsen said. "This is a last resort."

In a post on his Facebook page that directly mentions her first name, Emery responded to what Olsen now sees as sexual harassment.

"I do say outrageous things, but it is my sincere belief that I have never harmed anyone, or sexually aggressed anyone, in my life," Emery wrote.

“I do write provocative things. I do talk about sex and in the old days 15 years ago I used to write about sex," he added, but emphasized in his statement that "I have never ever had sex with anyone under 19.”

Emery also addressed the alleged encounter in his office, saying "I never asked (Olsen) for sex and offered to talk to her parents if she wanted to work at CC.

"To this day I am affectionate with women in a similar way, except they are over 18," Emery added in a different part of the post.

"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 judgement, but I only ever felt positive and glad to know you in our correspondence."

Olsen, however, said the rationale in Emery's response fails to make up for what allegedly took place.

"I do not accept his apology," she said. "He made it seem like it was a consequence of his personality and a product of the cultural context."

Emery said his alleged behaviour and attitudes at the time are now part of a past he's left behind.

"Not everything I wrote in 2005 is what I believe today," he said. "Sex, politics, I’d hate to think I have to be responsible for things I wrote decades ago. But it’s there."

With files from CTV Vancouver's David Molko