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| `Prince of Pot' Ready for Martyrdom |
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Posted by CN Staff on April 29, 2006 at 07:57:39 PT By Jeremy Hainsworth, Special To The Star Source: Toronto Star 
Vancouver -- The B.C. man wanted in the United States to stand trial for selling marijuana seeds by mail thinks a jail term south of the border could be his springboard to a political career in Canada. "I get elected to Parliament, I become the justice minister and finally get rid of these marijuana laws," is how Marc Emery sees his future on return from a prison term in the U.S. if convicted there on charges of conspiracy to distribute marijuana, distribute seeds and launder money. "My personal feeling is, I do get taken away and kept in captivity for many years," he says. "Historically, that's a very good springboard to the governing party." Next week, the B.C. Supreme Court is expected to set a date for the extradition hearing for Emery, 48, his co-accused, Greg Williams, 50, and Michelle Rainey, 34. However, the extradition hearing now hinges on other court proceedings in the B.C. Interior city of Nelson. Patrick Roberts, chairman of the nationalist Bloc British Columbia party, has started a private prosecution in Nelson against Emery and the others, on the basis the accused should be accountable only to Canada because the alleged conspiracy took place here. It's a matter of sovereignty, Roberts says. If the three face those charges in Canada, they cannot face them in the U.S. Whatever the judicial outcome of the extradition case, it will then move into the political realm because the federal justice minister must sign the removal order. And that might not be good news for Emery and company. Prime Minister Stephen Harper has been unequivocal in his get-tough stance on drug crimes, and has proposed mandatory minimum sentences. Earlier this month, Harper told the Canadian Professional Police Association that the Tories would not reintroduce legislation to legalize small amounts of marijuana. Emery says that sends an ominous warning about future drug policies. Simon Fraser University criminologist Neil Boyd says if drug sentences in the U.S. were much more severe than what Emery would face in Canada, the extradition request might be denied. Because they are not, Emery could well be extradited, he says. In running his seed business, Emery "was being very blatant," Boyd says. "He knew that people who had sold seeds from Australia and Spain had been extradited to the United States to faces charges. He knew he was gambling that Canada would send him back to face the charges." Rodney Benson, special agent with the Seattle office of the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA), says the Emery case is not political. "He's a drug trafficker, plain and simple," Benson says. "Marc Emery was violating United States law. Marc Emery is a significant threat to the United States." The political and legal wrangling began July 29, 2005, when the RCMP and DEA officers nabbed Emery, Williams and Rainey. Emery, the so-called Prince of Pot was in Lawrencetown, N.S., when he was arrested. Concurrently, the police raided Emery's Vancouver store, The Toker's Bowl, which doubles as the headquarters for Emery's British Columbia Marijuana Party. It was the culmination of an 18-month investigation by American authorities into the sale of marijuana seeds on the Internet and by mail. DEA administrator Karen Tandy said at the time that "Emery and his organization had been designated as one of the (U.S.) attorney general's most wanted international drug-trafficking targets — one of only 46 in the world and the only one in Canada." She claimed his business and his "propagandist" Cannabis Culture magazine generated $5 million a year to bolster his trafficking efforts. Emery says he knew that he would eventually be arrested, but says it's the greatest platform he could have in his 16-year fight against the prohibition of marijuana in North America. "I realized, `okay, it's all happened, finally it's here. This is the big moment I've been waiting for,'" he says. If he has to be the martyr for the movement, so be it, he says. "If I go to jail, and I'm really well-known and, hopefully, get murdered in jail, that will serve as a form of martyrdom that every year, demonstrations, protests, bombing, various forms of violent and non-violent behaviour can be used to put forward our thing," he says. `I become the justice minister and finally get rid of these marijuana laws' ~ Marc Emery But in the meantime, he's going to keep fighting. "It's my job as leader of the cannabis culture to thwart the United States government," he says, calling the U.S. attitude toward marijuana "tyrannical." "If my country allows me to get extradited, that is the biggest indictment against Canada that I could ever imagine," he says. "I'd rather be extradited and sit there in exile rejected by both my own countrymen and the Americans for doing something good, honest and necessary that I would never recant on. "Canadians are cowardly," he says. "They're a wonderful people but they don't have the courage of their beliefs that we ought to have a free society in Canada." Which brings us back to the private prosecution launched by Roberts. The federal justice department has asked the B.C. Supreme Court to be allowed to intervene in the Roberts prosecution so that it can ask for a stay of the proceedings, which would then clear the way for the extradition hearing. Roberts' lawyer, Don Skogstad, says research shows the conspiracy case could be dealt with in Canada. "We never got an answer about why it's not done here," he says. "How many times does a citizen get to stand up and say: `This is what's right for Canada?' That's what Mr. Roberts is doing." The court heard arguments on the government's motion to take up the charges Monday and has reserved its decision. While Emery has been in the marijuana business since he was selling High Times magazine on the streets of Vancouver, his political activism goes back to his time in London, Ont., where he used the proceeds of a comic book business to open City Lights Books, which he ran from 1975 to 1992. There, he took issue with Sunday shopping laws by opening his store on Sundays. Relocating to Vancouver in 1994, Emery began selling banned books and publishing High Times, quite determined, he says, to start a "hemp revolution business." He soon opened Hemp B.C., a store in the firebombed shell of a former Communist bookshop on what has now been dubbed downtown Vancouver's Pot Block. Shortly after, he began selling seeds, which, he says, contain no drug content but can be used to grow marijuana. "It rapidly expedited cash flow. No one else in North America was doing it," he says. But, he says, U.S. authorities are claiming those seeds are responsible for the production of $2.2 billion worth of pot. All told, Emery has been arrested 21 times and jailed 17 times. In 2004, he was convicted in Saskatoon for passing a joint and spent three months in jail. He admits he's "a total, recidivist repeat offender." He says Vancouver police have, for the most part, turned a blind eye to him for years. And, he says, federal officials have suggested people contact him to buy seeds for medical marijuana. Further, Emery says, he's paid $578,000 in income tax since 1999. It's from the proceeds of the $2 million to $3 million worth of seed sales per year. He says, his new fiancée, Cannabis Culture editor Jodie Geisz-Ramsay, supports him, and so does his family, including his brother, an Anglican minister whose son is serving with Canadian forces in Afghanistan. At the end of the day, though, Emery says fights over principles keep him going. "You have to focus on one thing and don't let go," he says. "Grip it like a lion and go right at it until you accomplish your goal." Note: Marc Emery faces extradition to U.S. on drug charges. But some argue Emery should be tried in Canada instead. Complete Title: `Prince of Pot' Ready for Martyrdom in Marijuana Cause Source: Toronto Star (CN ON) Related Articles: Conspiracy Charge Against Emery Heads To Court WP Chat Transcript: Marc Emery CBS: 60 Minutes Prince of Pot ~ Transcript Home Comment Email Register Recent Comments Help |
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