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Marc Emery Pleas To 5 Years In US Prison
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| Dr. DAS |
And the world takes another step back towards the '50's...
More power to Marc, accepting this plea spares his co-accused any jail time, one of whom is sick.
Best quote, "I wish I could have done more to piss the U.S. government off actually."
We'll be here Marc, keeping the faith and waiting light up on your release date!
SOURCE: Candaian Press
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Plea deal for Prince of Pot means jail time for marijuana activist in the U.S.
21 hours ago
VANCOUVER - Canada's so-called prince of pot is planning for prison after reaching a plea bargain with U.S. officials over his Internet sales of marijuana seeds.
But Marc Emery remains defiant, despite the prospect of serving a five-year-jail term and has no regrets over his pot-promoting antics through the years. "I'm really pleased and proud of what I've done," Emery said of his legacy. "I wish I could have done more to piss the U.S. government off actually."
Emery, 50, said Monday that U.S. prosecutors made the offer to his lawyer for a 10-year-prison term that would mean he would have to spend at least five years in prison, most of it in Canada.
The agreement also spares his co-accused Michelle Rainey and Greg Williams from doing jail time.
Emery said that's especially important for Rainey, who smokes marijuana to control symptoms of Crohn's disease, a painful digestive-tract disorder.
It was one of the reasons he considered the offer.
"Well, what if something did happen in jail to her?" said Emery. "You know I would always be responsible."
In July 2005, Emery was arrested in Halifax on an extradition request from the United States.
A U.S. federal grand jury had indicted the self-proclaimed "prince of pot" on charges of conspiracy to distribute marijuana seeds, conspiracy to distribute marijuana and conspiracy to engage in money laundering.
The charges related to his sale of marijuana seeds to U.S. customers over the Internet.
Emery still has trouble recognizing what he did wrong.
"There's no victim in my case," he said. "There's nobody who's claiming I hurt them ... so you're talking hundreds of thousands of happy customers."
For almost 15 years, Emery has been an outspoken advocate of the cannabis culture, even creating a magazine and forming the B.C. Marijuana Party.
Three years ago, he travelled across the country lighting up giant joints at pro-marijuana rallies in front of police stations in his quest to legalize pot.
He spent two months in a Saskatoon jail after he was arrested passing around a marijuana cigarette at a pro-pot rally.
"I'm a victim of political advocacy," he said Monday.
Alan Young, a professor at Osgood Hall Law School at York University, said extradition requests from the United States are very difficult to fight and the plea gives Emery some certainty.
"It looked a bit hopeless," Young said. "That's not to say a great fight could not have been mounted."
Young, who has known and worked with Emery since 1990, said on that level he's relieved that Emery knows the sentence he will face.
But on a political level the sentence is a travesty, he said.
"I think it's remarkable that I could cripple someone and put them in hospital ... and get less time that Marc will serve," Young said.
"It's grossly disproportionate by Canadian standards. But, unfortunately, by American standards, it may appear to be a kiss."
Emery said he's always been open about his actions, lobbying and meeting politicians such as Sen. Larry Campbell and New Democrat Leader Jack Layton and even filing income tax on his seed sales.
"Nobody ever treated me like a drug dealer in this country," he stated.
That wasn't the case in the U.S. after his arrest in 2005.
"The tentacles of the Marc Emery criminal enterprise reached out across North America to include all 50 states and Canada," Rodney Benson of the U.S. Drug Enforcement Agency told reporters in Seattle.
The plea agreement still needs the approval of the Canadian Department of Justice, which Emery believes won't oppose it.
"Because it spares the Conservative party government ... with a looming election, this awkward decision of whether to extradite me," he said.
"In a sense, it takes the heat off the government too, which I'm really disappointed by because one of the great things about having a crisis is something politically good might come of it."
Alain Charette, a spokesman for the Department of Justice, said the plea is a negotiation between other parties and doesn't yet involve the department.
He noted in all such extradition decisions, the minister is left with the final decision.
Emily Langlie, public affairs officer for the U.S. Attorney's office in Seattle, said it was not appropriate for officials there to comment on the plea agreement.
The U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration did not respond to a request for an interview.
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| RJT |
| What a load of horse . I really couldn't even believe that Canada agreed to his extradition. |
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| Moral Hazard |
| quote: | Originally posted by RJT
What a load of horse . I really couldn't even believe that Canada agreed to his extradition. |
It's because out neo-cons want to suck the collective of your neo-cons. |
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| RJT |
| quote: | Originally posted by Moral Hazard
It's because out neo-cons want to suck the collective of your neo-cons. |
It's sad because it's true (and because our willies are awfully diseased).
:( |
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| Moral Hazard |
| quote: | Originally posted by RJT
It's sad because it's true (and because our willies are awfully diseased).
:( |
Here's my thinking.... the US blue states should form a confederation with all of Canada except Alberta and Saskatchewan (which can join with red states). We can form two new countries: lets call them Rational North America and The United Federation of Evangelicals and The Uneducated.... I'll leave you to decide which is which.
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| inconspicuous |
| quote: | Originally posted by Moral Hazard
Here's my thinking.... the US blue states should form a confederation with all of Canada except Alberta and Saskatchewan (which can join with red states). We can form two new countries: lets call them Rational North America and The United Federation of Evangelicals and The Uneducated.... I'll leave you to decide which is which. |
but, wait--I thought they were all rich white men (the only ones who can afford education...it's so unfair). :conf: |
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| Dr. DAS |
| quote: | Originally posted by inconspicuous
who? |
Marc Emery is a Canadian pot activist who, anong other accomplishments, founded the B.C. Marijuana party and the Toronto Freedom Festival (which is basically an excuse to sit on the lawn of our Provincial Government and toke on 4:20). He ran a website selling seeds to people who wanted to grow thier own.
That is until, your DEA got wind of him shipping seeds to the US and took up arms against his 'criminal enterprise' *scoff* and filed extradition papers, which for some reason our Government didn't find to be a problem.
Here's a thought, but maybe the DEA should focus on stopping opium from overseas and qualu from South America from landing on US soil...or deal with the growing meth epidemic, before worrying about a guy running his own little garden centre online. |
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| Ian |
| will gareth emery follow :conf: |
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| colonelcrisp |
| I wonder if emery will go to a "martha stewart" jail / country club, or a federal "pound me in the ass" prison |
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