Marc Emery agrees to five years in Canadian prison

Ian Mulgrew
Vancouver Sun

Monday, January 14, 2008

(My Comments In Brackets)

CREDIT:
Ian Mulgrew

VANCOUVER - Marc Emery, Vancouver's self-styled Prince of Pot, has
tentatively agreed to a five-year prison term in a plea bargain over
U.S. money laundering and marijuana seed-selling charges.

Facing an extradition hearing Jan. 21 and the all-but-certain prospect
of delivery to American authorities, Emery has cut a deal with U.S.
prosecutors to serve his sentence in Canada. He also hopes it will
save his two co-accused - Michelle Rainey and Greg Williams, who were
his lieutenants for so much of the past decade.

The three were arrested in August 2005 at the request of the United
States and charged even though none had ventured south of the border.
Since then, they have been awaiting the extradition hearing. With the
proceedings about to begin, Emery says his lawyer brokered the best
deal possible.

If accepted by the courts in both countries, Emery said he will serve
the full term and not be eligible for Canada's lenient
get-out-of-jail-early rules.

"I'm going to do more time than many violent, repeat offenders," he
complained. "There isn't a single victim in my case, no one who can
stand up and say, 'I was hurt by Marc Emery.' No one."

( The charge is money laundering. It is a crime that is by definition
doesn't have individuals being hurt.)

He's right. Whatever else you may think of Emery - and he grates on
many people, what is happening here is a travesty of justice. Emery's
case mocks our independence as a country. Prosecutors in Canada have
not enforced the law against selling pot seeds and all you need do is
walk along Hastings Street between Homer and Cambie for proof.

(True enough but the courts routinely prosecute ppl for financial
crimes like money laundering.)

There are numerous stores selling seeds and products for producing
cannabis. Around the corner, you'll find more seed stores. You'll find
the same shops in Toronto and in other major Canadian cities.

The last time Emery was convicted in Canada of selling pot seeds, back
in 1998, he was given a $2,000 fine. Emery has flouted the law for
more than a decade and every year he sends his seed catalogue to
politicians of every stripe.

(About time the govt cracked down then.)

He has run in federal, provincial and civic elections promoting his
pro-cannabis platform. He has championed legal marijuana at
parliamentary hearings, on national television, at celebrity
conferences, in his own magazine, Cannabis Culture, and on his own
Internet channel, Pot TV.

Health Canada even recommended medical marijuana patients buy their
seeds from Emery. From 1998 until his arrest, Emery even paid
provincial and federal taxes as a "marijuana seed vendor" totalling
nearly $600,000.

He is being hounded because of his success. The political landscape
has changed dramatically as a result of Emery's politicking for
cannabis. Emery challenged a law he disagrees with using exactly the
non-violent, democratic processes we urge our children to embrace and
of which we are so proud.

(He isn't being prosecuted for protests or legal political activity
but for money laundering which is what organized crime does.)

But along the way he has angered the anti-drug law-enforcement
community - the same gang that insists we must continue an expensive
War on Drugs that has failed miserably for more than a quarter century
and does more harm than good.

Canadian police grew so frustrated that neither prosecutors nor the
courts would lock up Emery and throw away the key, they urged their
U.S. counterparts to do the dirty work. And that's what's wrong.

(The US does the same from time to time. We expect impoverished
nations to crack down on child prostitutes and financial crimes aimed
at Cdns. Other nations have every reason to expect us to enforce our
laws.)

Emery is being handed over to a foreign government for an activity we
are loath to prosecute because we don't think it's a major problem.
His two associates were charged only as a way of blackmailing him into
copping a plea.

It's a scandal.

(The scandal is that the law here isn't being enforced.)

Emery is being made a scapegoat for an anti-cannabis criminal law that
is a monumental failure. In spite of all our pricey efforts during the
last 40 years, and all the demonization of marijuana, there is more
pot on our streets, more people smoking dope and more damage being
done to our communities as a result of the prohibition.

(The Vancouver Sun has reported that marihuana is a hallucinogenic.
Maggie Trudeau says pot made her psychotic. No country on Earth is it
legal and it causes cancer. Yes even in Holland it is still illegal
although allowed in certain cafes.)

There is a better way and every study from the 1970s Le Dain
Commission onward has urged change and legalization.

(A lot of ppl including myself want to increase the financial penalty
and the length of gaol penalty. This drug is only for ppl maybe with
MS and glaucoma. In places like Seattle it is very difficult to find
pot because of the heavier sentences there.)

Regardless of what you think of Emery, he should not be facing an
unconscionably long jail term for a victimless, non-violent crime that
generates a shrug in his own country. Emery is facing more jail time
than corporate criminals who defrauded widows and orphans and longer
incarceration than violent offenders who have left their victims dead
or in wheelchairs.

(Money laundering is a serious crime.)

And while he has long seemed to court martyrdom, Emery is by no means
sanguine about what is happening. He is angry at local lawyers for
failing to come up with a viable defence.

"They had two years and $90,000 and they came up with nothing," he
fumed. "John Conroy called me up and said 'take the deal - Michelle
will die in jail. Michelle will die in jail!' What can I say to that?"
(On TV it is obvious that no matter how many times you smoke from a
water bong the stress of committing a stupid crime resulting in
federal prison time will result in lots of lines on the face.)

Rainey, who has a medical exemption to smoke marijuana, has Crohn's
disease. Incarceration in the U.S. would deprive her of her medicine,
and she fears it could lead to her death.

(Then why did she knowingly break US law? Because she is a stupid
stoner.)

"It's an ugly situation but Marc expects miracles," Kirk Tousaw, one
of the lawyers involved, told me. "There aren't any here."

He's right. Our extradition law puts Canadian citizens at the mercy of
foreign governments and judges can't do much about it. Emery is being
forced to accept a deal because not only are two of his friends in
jeopardy if he doesn't, but also to go south for an unfair trial would
mean serving as much as 20 years in prison, perhaps more.

(Americans are extradited to Canada as a matter of routine and they
don't like it either.)

One of his friends, for example, was handed a 30-year sentence for
growing 200 plants. This is wrong.

(He knew what the law was in his state and he chose to break it. Just
like Tommy Chong did time for selling bongs despite the fact he knew
or should have known they were illegal in KY. Pot heads do some rather
dumb things when it comes to legal matters sometimes.)

If Emery has been breaking the law and must be jailed, our justice
department should charge him and prosecute him in Canada. It's time
for Justice Minister Rob Nicholson to step in and say, sorry, Uncle
Sam, not today - not ever.

(Let the US do it and save us money. Emery has his office adorned with
Ron Paul posters despite the fact that Ron Paul is a racist and his
old Marijuana Party HQ was destroyed by an arson. His buddy Don Briere
was busted for having 250k rounds of ammo. These ppl are organized
crime and far-right gun nuts and they would just to impose some sort
of extreme right methocracy in Canada. About time the frequently
charged Emery did some serious prison time. I wouldn't be the least
bit surprised if he gets let out of prison on a day parole plan far
sooner than the 5 yrs he says he will do.)

imulgrew@png.canwest.com

© Vancouver Sun

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