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Lothar121

Extradition Hearing For Unrepentant B.C. Pot Activist to Begin Sept. 16
The Brandon Sun | 08/26/2005

VANCOUVER (CP) - Pot crusader Marc Emery said Thursday that all Canadians will be complicit if the United States succeeds in extraditing him to face drug charges in that country. Emery, 47, made the comment after a B.C. Supreme Court judge set Sept. 16 as the start of his extradition hearing that could net him life in prison if he is convicted on marijuana charges in the U.S.

The longtime pot activist is accused of selling marijuana seeds to Americans through the Internet and the mail, conspiracy to manufacture marijuana and conspiracy to engage in money laundering.

Emery's co-accused, Michelle Rainey-Fenkarek and Gregory Keith Smith, were also in court Thursday.

The trio was arrested July 29 after Vancouver police raided Emery's pot paraphernalia store following an 18-month investigation by the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration.

Emery, who showed up in court with his fiancee and a few supporters, called the DEA "a Nazi-like military organization."

He said he's been selling his marijuana seeds for 11 years, during which time Canadians have benefited from the $4 million he's given away to various organizations.

Jack Layton, leader of the federal NDP, also reaped the rewards of his popularity because Emery's Internet-based Pot-tv solicited support for the party from viewers, Emery said.

"Everybody took the money, from the income tax departments representing the province and the federal government," said Emery, leader of the B.C. Marijuana party.

"I've never received a written complaint or a phone call in 11 years and I have a listed phone number.

"So if I get taken away for the rest of my life to a United States prison then every Canadian has let it happen because they have tacitly and complicitly condoned my behaviour."

He continued to vent against the DEA, calling it a well-armed beast.

"It's in the business of putting the marijuana culture away in prisons for a long time.

"As the leader of the marijuana people around the world they have targeted me and when I go to the United States, if I am extradited, you will never see me alive in Canada again."

Emery's supporters have requested Justice Minister Irwin Cotler step in but he has said the matter is now before the courts.

"He is selling out an exemplary Canadian citizen to appease their War on Drugs," Emery said of Cotler.

Associate Chief Justice Patrick Dohm granted a request from lawyer John Conroy to have $15,000 of Rainey-Fenkarek's bail money returned so she could retain her own lawyer.

Conroy had asked Dohm to set a court date in September so Emery could continue a speaking tour across Canada.

While selling marijuana seeds is also illegal in Canada, no one has been arrested for years.

Emery, who last year spent three months in a Saskatoon jail for passing a joint at a pot rally in 2004, said he doesn't regret selling pot seeds to Americans and doesn't really fear spending life in prison.

His worst fear is that marijuana wouldn't be legalized in his lifetime.

"That's the only fear," he said, adding that people in the marijuana culture are peaceful and honest.

"We're total victims and to think that it would go on for longer than my lifetime is just a horrifyingly sad thought."

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Buzzby

Did I miss the election? Or was he appointed by God: Marc Emery, the new Joan of Arc.


I wish that was my worst fear!


Really. I've never met a violent or dishonest pot smoker. Except for the dealer who charged me $200 for a bag of ditchweed and the guy who tried to rip me off at gunpoint and the person unknown at a party who absconded with my stash and...

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uniquexperience

Yeah!.. He does seem like a basket case...
Whatever, It's still no excuse for the canadian Govt. to just give up some of their citizens just so they don't have to legalize cannabis

BC.Buddy

That's what I've been saying.

Does there need to be an election for a leader to appear? If people think of him as a leader, worldwide, doesn't that account for something? I would consider him a leader of sorts. My leader? Not really. For the whole world of cannabis users? No. But he is still a leader to many thousands of people. And I imagine you look up to 'leaders' that were never elected either.

Wow, lots of hate for this issue, huh? Let me clarify for him;

Perhaps when he says people in the marijuana culture, he doesn't mean people also just in the marijuana industry. I think he's referring, like he always does, to the people that consider themselves a culture because of their cannabis use. You're talking about the dealers that are taking advantage of prohibition, not just cannabis users.

I guarantee that not all marijuana users are peachy, peaceful and honest; but these are definetely good things to say when trying to advocate marijuana, wouldn't you agree? He's trying to give society a good image of marijuana users, and you smash it. That's all right, I was expecting it, no harm done.

It helps a lot to argue, saying that the marijuana culture is full of dishonest, violent people, doesn't it Buzzby? "But it's true." Most certainly is, but Marc Emery loves the cannabis community and this is his observation of it. Fair enough, isn't it?

You do want to legalize marijuana, right? You're always talking about appealing to everyone, not just the marijuana users, but when Marc paints a peaceful picture of marijuana users, the opposite of what his opponents do, you and others drag it back down! Good old freedom of speech, huh?

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lilgrasshoppah

Do you like the status quo? Do you want Marc, and people like him, to got to jail simply for marijuana association? By merely being associated with the plant (selling seeds), he has garnered the wrath of an entire arm of law enforcement. And you're okay with that.

Here we are, in one of the few safe havens for free expression, and you are doing your level best to vindicate the DEA. 'Ra ra, Go get Marc, you lovely narks!' Why? If you think Marc is a fraud, have him brought up on charges IN CANADA for fraud. If you think him a loudmouth, then tell him to shut up to his face. But life in prison for selling seeds... and you think that's fair because he is, according to you, a flamboyant fraud who doesn't like old people.

Get some context please. I think you're just jealous because a canuck managed to out-Yankee the Yankees, and it's pissing you right the hell off.

I've said it numerous times. I don't like the man. I doubt very strongly we could spend a lot of time in the same vicinity without a great deal of yelling back and forth. But the FACT REMAINS, HE DOESN'T DESERVE TO GO TO JAIL FOR THE REST OF HIS LIFE, SO THAT THE DEA CAN PRETEND THEIR DOING SOMETHING WITH THE MONEY THEY EXTORT FROM THE AMERICAN PEOPLE.

You want to talk fraud? Talk Karen Tandy! You want a loudmouth? Johnny Pee! And stop trying to prove that Marc deserves to go to jail for weed...
because nobody does.

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Lothar121

I've been doing what I can to stay off this topic since I don't see it going anywhere. However, I have to comment on something that has always bugged me about Marc.

It's this idea that cannabis users are distinct with their own little culture, it really does bother me. I think that painting the picture that we have our own activities and our own way of living is wrong. I see myself as having the exact same culture as my fellow Americans but I simply would consume cannabis. Framing the issue as if all we do is smoke marijuana and do marijuana related things would be counter productive to me, but perhaps I am misunderstanding the way Marc was framing the issue. However, I don't think I am given that if you look at the magazine they produce, it's the type of image I would try to get away from, and to my knowledge it is what High Times got away from.

BC.Buddy

You've got to remember, not every cannabis user has to be part of the 'cannabis community'.

It's like this; if you're a proud marijuana user that feels they're part of a cannabis 'culture', then you are. Know what I mean?

I like to consider myself part of a culture. You don't have to, smoking cannabis doesn't mean you have to feel a part of anything.

Marc Emery does consider there to be a cannabis culture, and he spends time with thousands of other cannabis users that feel the same way. If that's not a culture, or a collective community of some kind, then what is?

It's just a set of beliefs, and a lot of people share those beliefs. Also, I do honestly believe they are being persecuted together, so that is a common threat, right? What else unites people better?

Let's get this straight; Marc does talk for a lot of people he shouldn't. You don't have to consider yourself part of a culture if you don't want to, that's a given. He shouldn't say things like all cannabis users are a culture. But to a certain extent, it is at least partially true. Also, don't mistake it as fraud; even if he's wrong to say that everyone is part of this culture, there certainly is a culture and he feels very much a part of it and devotes his life to it. As do a lot of others.

Lothar121

That's fine B.C. Buddy, you must understand my primary concern is calling the cannabis consuming population a distinct culture could easily be replaced with a flashback to the counter culture hippie era. I do not think Marc is framing the cannabis culture as such, but in America the line is thin. If I were completely in charge of reform, I would leave the word culture out of it as the American groups have.

Higher Logic

I agree, Lothar, because there are literally hundreds of thousands of cannabis smokers out there who wouldn't define themselves in a "culture." It's very counter-culture, like you said, and makes it sound so hippy-esque. Doctors, businessmen, CEOs, old ladies, etc., all use cannabis, but calling it a culture is...a mistake. It's like saying anyone who ever has a glass of wine, beer, or liquor is somehow in a culture that's different from the rest.

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BC.Buddy

I completely agree.

However, there is a counter culture and they're proud of it. Perhaps not in the U.S., but here in Canada, more dominantly in BC, I imagine. I mean, this province is known around the world for pot.

So, perhaps you perceive it as counter productive. That's fine, it wouldn't work everywhere, but it has gotten the recognition this issue deserves.

Like I said above, I agree that it's completely wrong to say all cannabis users are part of a culture, but there is most certainly a culture within cannabis users that for sure considers themselves counter culture.

Remember, a lot of tolerance has been established with this counter culture, like marijuana cafes. And the argument that it is a culture garners a certain degree of respect more and more in terms of it being simply a lifestyle choice.