Pubdate: Fri, 08 Jan 2010
Source: Windsor Star (CN ON)
Copyright: 2010 The Windsor Star
Contact: http://www.canada.com/windsorstar/letters.html
Website: http://www.canada.com/windsorstar/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/501
Author: Elaine O'Connor, Staff Writer

'PRINCE OF POT' AWAITS ORDER TO SERVE FIVE-YEAR JAIL TERM

Marijuana activist Marc Emery is taking his last puff of freedom -- as
the clock counts down on an extradition order that will send him to a
U.S. jail for five years.

Emery, founder of the B.C. Marijuana Party and publisher of Cannabis
Culture magazine, is out on bail waiting for Federal Justice Minister
and Attorney General Rob Nicholson to sign the extradition order,
which can be done any time after today.

Emery says he will not turn fugitive, but will obey the order.

Until then, Emery, often referred to as B.C.'s Prince of Pot, is
making the most of his last days of freedom.

Emery's trouble with U.S. authorities stemmed from his online
mail-order marijuana seed business, "Marc Emery Direct Seeds," which
he ran from 1994 to 2005.

Trade in seeds is illegal in Canada and the U.S., but the law is
seldom enforced here.

By 2005, the U.S. Justice Department got wind of the seeds entering
their country. The U.S. Drug Enforcement Agency raided Emery's
business, and the Canadian government was asked to extradite him to
America to face charges of conspiracy to produce and traffic marijuana
and to launder the proceeds of crime -- charges that could have landed
him a life sentence in a U.S. prison.

After a failed legal bid to serve his time in Canada, Emery signed a
plea bargain in September 2009 to avoid a U.S. trial. The deal reduced
his sentence to five years in a U.S. federal prison.
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MAP posted-by: Richard R Smith Jr