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Pioneering Decriminalization
Pubdate: Mon, 19 Sep 2005
Source: Link, The (CN QU Edu)
Copyright: 2005 The Link
Contact: http://thelink.concordia.ca/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/2694
Author: Keith Mills
Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/mjcn.htm (Cannabis - Canada)
Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/find?196 (Emery, Marc)
PIONEERING DECRIMINALIZATION
A Vancouverite's Take On The Marc Emery Fiasco
Life as a pot smoker in Vancouver, B.C. has a steady yo-yo type feel to it:
is weed any closer to being legalized, or not? Even if you choose not to
inhale, the exhalations of the issue are omnipresent, and certainly
impossible to ignore.
As many Canadian citizens are well aware, the proverbial shit hit the fan
in July of this year when the B.C. Marijuana Party's poster boy Marc Emery
was arrested in conjunction with U.S. authorities in Halifax. A
simultaneous raid on the party's headquarters here in Vancouver sparked a
heated media and grassroots activist battle over the legality of the arrest
and subsequent extradition rumours. All conjecture aside, the basic facts
are frightening: if tried in the U.S., Emery could receive life
imprisonment for selling seeds over the Internet.
Now for those of you unfamiliar with the man, he has been the most visible
campaigner for marijuana decriminalization--arguably of all-time--here in
Canada. Where the issue becomes confused with American jurisdiction is in
the fact that many of the seeds he's sold in his 10-plus years of Internet
dealings have crossed the border in a southbound direction. Personally, I
doubt the Supreme Court of the U.S. of A will accept natural migration as a
legitimate argument. Which means Emery could be standing trial in Seattle
sometime in the near future.
Although I wouldn't claim to be an expert on Canadian-U.S. extradition
laws, one example that does seem relevant is the case of O.J. Pitanawaknat,
whom the U.S. refused to extradite to Canada following an aboriginal
standoff in 1995. Although the crimes and circumstances are of a wholly
different nature, the basics remain that a crime was committed on the other
nations' soil yet the criminal was tried in his native land. To me, this
suggests that either the Canadian government had given assent to Emery's
arrest, or the act itself was both illegal and grossly unconstitutional.
But once again lacking the legal expertise, I'll shut my mouth until the
proper proceedings get underway.
And just before I permanently shut my mouth/cap my pen/deboot my word
processing supercomputer, I'll once again call your attention to the up and
down, hazy world of the Vancouver pot smoker.
Last summer several herbal and alternative medicine stores here in
Vancouver---such as the Da Kine Cafe, the Spirit Within, the Marijuana
Party Compassion Club, and Bud Buddy delivery service--decided to finally
go for it and start selling small bags of weed over the counter. Amazingly
enough it managed to continue, in plain public view for about a month or
two. Although the police were refusing to act on a shutdown, the eventual
media and community backlash eventually forced them into action. Not that
this in itself signified the end of an era. To quote another high profile
decriminalization campaigner, David Malmo-Levine, "It's dodge, parry,
thrust in this activist business. You take a stand, and you take your
blows, and then you steady yourself, and you build yourself up for the next
time. And I'm sure it's not over for anyone who is associated with Da Kine."
But the point here is that I remember thinking how amazing it was that
something so harmless as pot smoking would bring about such retribution.
Growing up in Ontario, I watched the smog and suburban infiltration plow
ahead unchecked, or in some cases, even encouraged. Geographic emission
studies have shown that the majority of Toronto's air pollution is mainly
adrift on wind currents that deliver the emissions of cities as far away as
Detroit, New York and Chicago.
As much of the world seems to be pondering the same question, I
continuously ask myself: at what point will American imperialism be
seriously called into question, and at what point will someone of
considerable influence and power have the guts to do something about it?
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MAP posted-by: Jay Bergstrom