Pubdate: Sun, 31 Jul 2005
Source: Arizona Republic (AZ)
Copyright: 2005 The Arizona Republic
Contact:  http://www.arizonarepublic.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/24
Author: Elianna Lev
Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/find?196 (Emery, Marc)

AMERICANS JOIN CANADIANS IN PROTESTING ARRESTS ON POT CHARGES

VANCOUVER, British Columbia - All the cliches of a pot protest were there:
the hackey-sac games, tie-dye T-shirts and small clouds of smoke floating
above the crowd of about 200 people.

What wasn't to be expected at Saturday's Vancouver rally against the arrest
of three Canadian B.C. Marijuana Party members was the support it received
from visiting Americans.

Party leader Marc Emery, Michelle Rainey-Fenkarek, financial agent for the
party and Greg Williams, an employee of Pot-TV, all face charges of
conspiracy to manufacture marijuana, distribute seeds and engage in money
laundering.

The United States wants the three extradited to the United States to face
the charges.

Nick Frey, who was visiting from Los Angeles, stumbled across the protest
while walking through Vancouver's "pot block," a city street that houses
mostly marijuana-themed stores.

"It's not my problem because I don't smoke pot, but people should be
alarmed. People should be able to do what they want to do."

Nebraskan Scott Tanner echoed the sentiment.

"Our government has overstepped its bounds," he said. "Whatever happens on
this side of the border, it's none of our business."

The uplifting psychedelic rock music blaring from the B.C. Marijuana Party
headquarters in downtown Vancouver didn't reflect the mood inside.

A donation box was set up inside asking for help for Emery, Rainey-Fenkarek
and Williams as they face extradition for trial in the United States for
selling marijuana seeds on the Internet and by mail.

A conviction on the charges carries a sentence ranging from 10 years to life
in prison.

"We put these all in storage, this was in the bottom of my drawer," said
Jodie Giesz-Ramsay, assistant editor of Cannabis Culture magazine, pointing
to her T-shirt.

"We never thought we'd have to dig 'em out again. Today seems like a good
day to do it."

The shirts feature a fist gripping a marijuana leaf and the caption "Free
Marc Emery."

Giesz-Ramsay said they were made last year after Emery was sentenced to
three months in jail for passing a joint at a pot rally in Saskatoon.

It was his eleventh drug-related conviction but the first time he was
sentenced to jail.

"This is an attack on not just a business or it's not just the drug war,
it's that they want this person, who refuses to stand down to the United
States," Giesz-Ramsay said.

Officials in Seattle said Friday the three were indicted by a U.S. federal
grand jury in May after an 18-month investigation by American police into
the sale of marijuana seeds on the Internet and by mail.
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