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'Prince of Pot' Given Prison Time
Pubdate: Wed, 16 Jan 2008
Source: Seattle Post-Intelligencer (WA)
Copyright: 2008 Seattle Post-Intelligencer
Contact: http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/408
Author: Paul Shukovsky, P-I Reporter
Alert: Marc Emery Needs Your Support http://www.mapinc.org/alert/0359.html
Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/mjcn.htm (Marijuana - Canada)
Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/decrim.htm (Decrim/Legalization)
Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/find?199 (Mandatory Minimum Sentencing)
Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/walters.htm (Walters, John)
'PRINCE OF POT' GIVEN PRISON TIME
B.C. Man Says U.S. Sentence Is a Political Muzzle
A Vancouver marijuana activist, whose arrest and pending extradition
for selling marijuana seeds over the Internet outraged many
Canadians, says he's cut a deal with federal prosecutors in Seattle
and is going to prison.
U.S. authorities portray Marc Emery, dubbed the "Prince of Pot," as a
major drug trafficker who pocketed millions of dollars and fueled
organized crime.
But Emery, 50, says the prosecution was politically driven and
designed to muzzle his vocal opposition to laws criminalizing pot.
Although the plea deal has not yet been formally adopted, Emery said
Tuesday that he's agreed to the prosecution's terms: that he serve a
minimum of five years behind bars. Most of that time would be done in
a Canadian prison, he said.
Emery had been facing a mandatory minimum term of 10 years and up to
life if convicted in U.S. District Court for a crime that's rarely
prosecuted in Canada.
The plea agreement calls for him to plead guilty to a three-count
indictment issued in 2005 by a Seattle grand jury. He was charged
with manufacturing more than a ton of marijuana and conspiring to
distribute seeds and launder the profits.
As part of the deal, he must also agree to return any proceeds from
the seed sales.
"But I've never kept any of the money," said Emery, who claims it all
went to support marijuana legalization activists, except for "450
bucks a week as editor of Cannabis Culture Magazine."
Emery said the plea deal is contingent on sparing two longtime
associates, also charged in the indictment, any jail time.
Assistant U.S. Attorney Todd Greenberg on Tuesday declined to comment
on the plea bargain outlined by Emery. He said an extradition hearing
scheduled to begin Monday in Vancouver so far hasn't been canceled.
For years, Emery has been thumbing his nose at law enforcement on
both sides of the border through major cash donations to marijuana
legalization efforts and public pot smoking.
In 2002, Emery -- who once ran for mayor of Vancouver on the B.C.
Marijuana Party ticket -- bought a table for a presentation by White
House drug czar John Walters and proceeded to heckle him throughout
his presentation at the Vancouver Board of Trade.
"Three days later, I was under investigation," Emery said.
As support for his allegation that his prosecution was politically
motivated, Emery prominently displays on his Web site a statement
from Karen Tandy, the administrator of the Drug Enforcement
Administration at the time.
To the dismay of the federal criminal justice establishment in
Seattle, Tandy issued a statement after Emery's arrest in July 2005,
saying: "Today's DEA arrest of Marc Scott Emery, publisher of
Cannabis Culture magazine, and the founder of a marijuana
legalization group -- is a significant blow not only to the marijuana
trafficking trade in the U.S. and Canada, but also the marijuana
legalization movement.
"Hundreds of thousands of dollars of Emery's illicit profits are
known to have been channeled to marijuana legalization groups active
in the United States and Canada. Drug legalization lobbyists now have
one less pot of money to rely on."
Greenberg last week rejected Emery's assertion that the prosecution
was political.
"His politics and the marijuana legalization movement in general have
nothing to do with the charges in this case or with why the charges
were brought," Greenberg said.
A spokesman for the White House Office of National Drug Control
Policy said Walters would not comment on an ongoing criminal case.
Tandy, who left the DEA in the fall for an executive position with
Motorola, did not return calls for comment.
The depth of concern on the part of many Canadians over the arrest
was revealed by the massive response to a CBC documentary about Emery.
"I am incensed at the obvious infringement of our national
sovereignty," wrote one viewer of the documentary to the CBC Web
site. "If the U.S. tried this crap in China, it would be WWIII!"
Another viewer wrote: "We need to keep the influence of the American
government at bay in Canada. This is OUR country, and OUR values are
a lot different than America. It's wrong to send someone to jail for
so long for something that is not considered to be a crime by most Canadians."
Canadian Sen. Larry Campbell, the former mayor of Vancouver and a
former narcotics cop, told the Seattle P-I that it is "a rare, rare
occurrence that anybody would be charged with seeds in Canada."
"If they extradite him to the States, there will be total outrage.
The offense he is charged with carries virtually no penalty here in
Canada. This is so characteristic of the drug war in your country and
the hyperbole and over-the-top statements. It would make a great comedy show."
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