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Prominent Pot Activist Facing Extradition To U.S.
Pubdate: Sat, 30 Jul 2005
Source: Globe and Mail (Canada)
Copyright: 2005, The Globe and Mail Company
Contact: http://www.globeandmail.ca/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/168
Author: Rod Mickleburgh
Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/pot.htm (Cannabis)
Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/find?196 (Emery, Marc)
PROMINENT POT ACTIVIST FACING EXTRADITION TO U.S.
VANCOUVER -- Marc Emery, Canada's most prominent pro-marijuana activist, is
facing the possibility of life imprisonment in the United States for
selling marijuana seeds over the Internet to U.S. customers.
In a stunning development, RCMP officers arrested the self-proclaimed
"Prince of Pot" in Halifax yesterday after a U.S. federal grand jury
indicted him on charges of conspiracy to distribute marijuana seeds,
conspiracy to distribute marijuana and conspiracy to engage in money
laundering.
The charges stem from Mr. Emery's lucrative sale of marijuana seeds, an
activity he has carried on from his Vancouver base with minimal legal
penalty for 10 years.
"I've sold about four million seeds," the marijuana mogul boasted in a 2002
media interview. "Unlike most other seed dealers, I use my real name and
I'm easy to find."
U.S. drug-enforcement officials said they will seek Mr. Emery's extradition
from Canada to stand trial in Seattle, where conviction on either of the
marijuana charges carries a minimum prison term of 10 years to a maximum of
life.
Special Agent Rodney Benson of the U.S. Drug Enforcement Agency said Mr.
Emery, 47, has distributed millions of cannabis seeds to U.S. customers
over the years, earning as much as $3-million annually.
"I am pleased to announce that he is out of business as of today," Mr.
Benson told a Seattle news conference. "His overblown arrogance and abuse
of the rule of law will no longer be on display. Like other drugs,
marijuana harms the innocents."
By mid-afternoon, an attempt to access Mr. Emery's business on the Internet
produced a message, in large red letters: "Emery Seeds has been raided by
the DEA and is shut down."
The arrest of Mr. Emery, also head of the B.C. Marijuana Party, was
accompanied by a simultaneous Vancouver Police raid of party headquarters
on the edge of the city's drug-ravaged Downtown Eastside.
Police were acting on a search warrant signed by Associate Chief Justice
Patrick Dohm of the B.C. Supreme Court, who agreed there were reasonable
grounds to believe that the three conspiracy charges "over which the United
States of America has jurisdiction have been committed."
Mr. Emery's supporters, four of whom were carted away for lying down in
front of a police van, were outraged by the day's events.
Puffing openly on marijuana, they pounded drums, chanted at passing
motorists and brandished signs damning the DEA for intruding into Canada.
"I was completely shocked," said well-known pot activist David
Malmo-Levine, who took his fight against Canada's marijuana laws to the
Supreme Court of Canada.
"It's appalling for the U.S. to come in here and try to police our country.
To arrest Canadians to face their penalties and their laws is completely
wrong," he said, standing in front of an upside down U.S. flag with the
words "DEA Go Away" on it.
Two other marijuana activists were also arrested in Vancouver on the same
charges as Mr. Emery, at the request of U.S. authorities yesterday --
Michelle Rainey-Fenkarek, 34, and Gregory Williams, 50.
Television footage showed an undercover officer wearing a balaclava
bundling Mr. Williams into a police vehicle.
The extradition hearing is certain to highlight a clash between the
Draconian drug laws of the United States and Canada's more benign approach
to marijuana use.
Only last week, the B.C. Court of Appeal rejected a two-year jail term for
a convicted marijuana grower as excessive, while Ottawa is moving to
decriminalize possession of small amounts of pot.
Assistant U.S. attorney Jeff Sullivan said there is no chance of marijuana
being legalized in the United States. "Marijuana is not a benign drug.
There are more kids in treatment for addiction to marijuana than for all
other illegal drugs combined," Mr. Sullivan claimed.
Last year, Mr. Emery spent two months in a Saskatoon jail for passing a
joint around at a pro-pot rally, the only time he has been sent to prison
for any of his 11 marijuana-related convictions in Canada.
U.S. officials praised the "outstanding co-operation" of Canadian
law-enforcement agencies in their 18-month investigation of Mr. Emery's
seed business, 75 per cent of which they said was aimed at Americans.
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