Pubdate: Thu, 08 Sep 2005
Source: Coast, The (CN NS)
Copyright: 2005 Coast Publishing
Contact:  http://www.thecoast.ns.ca/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/3170
Author: Brent Sedo 
Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/find?196 (Emery, Marc)

POT SHOTS

The marijuana legalization movement marches on with Cannabis Liberation Day.

Listing his occupation as Marijuana Seed Vendor on his tax returns, Canadian
anti-marijuana prohibition activist, Marc Emery, has paid over $575,000 to
Revenue Canada since 1999, with Revenue Canada never once raising the issue
of whether the money was the proceeds of a crime. photo Michael Tompkins

In 2003, Health Canada advised medicinal marijuana patients that seeds for
producing pot could be had through internet mail-order, the very business
Emery was in.

The Britis Columbia resident has testified twice before the Canadian Senate
as an expert in marijuana issues based on his occupation and activism and
knowledge of marijuana seed genetics.

Clearly, the Canadian government doesn't consider Emery a criminal.

Yet on July 29, at the request of the US Drug Enforcement Agency under what
is called the Mutual Legal Assistance in Criminal Matters Act, RCMP and
Halifax police arrested Emery, while he was in Halifax visiting, for
extradition to the United States to face drug trafficking and
money-laundering charges. The DEA also enlisted the aid of Vancouver police
to raid Emery's home and the BC Marijuana Party office and bookstore,
arresting two of Emery's associates.

All three now face charges in the US. If convicted, Emery could spend the
rest of his life in prison. Due to the volume of seeds he has sold over the
years, Emery could be classified a `Drug Kingpin' under US laws, for which
US courts can levy the death penalty.

So while two Canadian government departments, and the Canadian Senate, have
all but endorsed Emery's activities, the Canadian Justice Ministry is
preparing to argue he should be sent to face US charges for those very same
activities. A hearing in BC Supreme Court will take place September 16.

Suddenly, the Canadian government's position on Emery is not so clear, a
point organizers of Cannabis Liberation Day, to be held Saturday at Grand
Parade, are hoping to make. World wide, September 10 has been declared
"Smoke Out America Day" with rallies in dozens of North American cities and
at Canadian Embassies from Warsaw to Moscow to Mexico City.

"We see this so often, with one government ministry not knowing what the
other is doing, and no political leadership," says activist and Liberation
Day MC Mike Patriquen. "Paul Martin is there and he's not doing a damn
thing. Anne McLellan, with her new portfolio of Public Safety Minister, has
the Justice Ministry and Attorney General and RCMP all answering to her. And
she's in tight with the Americans, so she's really at the root of all this."

On the day he was arrested, the DEA issued a statement calling Emery "the
founder of a marijuana legalization group" saying the arrest represented a
"significant blow" to "the marijuana legalization movement." It's a
resounding slap in the face--if not a threat--to Canadians engaged in legal
political activism, as well as the Senate, which concluded from their own
hearings that legalization and controlled distribution of marijuana should
be undertaken in Canada.

Patriquen says that's why Saturday's event isn't just another "Legalize It"
rally, and not only about Emery. "The Americans getting Marc is one step,
and the next step is the imposition of American-style drug policy in Canada
against the political will of Canadians," he says, naming a number of
locations across Canada where the DEA has offices. "It's here now--they're
doing it. They're like the camel that pokes his nose in the tent at night,
and by morning it's got the whole tent."

It would be funny if it wasn't so serious. If three branches of Canadian
government consider Emery a law-abiding citizen, it's ludicrous for the
Justice Minister to extradite him to face severe criminal penalties in
another country. If they believed he was doing something illegal, and didn't
act accordingly, they are complicit in his crimes.

Another scenario is that Revenue Canada and Health Canada simply did their
part to let Emery ply his trade while the DEA gathered evidence.

That raises the question of who the Canadian government is working for. It's
something Canadians should care about, whether they sympathize with Marc
Emery or not.

Cannabis Liberation day, noon to 5pm, september 10 at Grand Parade Square. 
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