Pubdate: Thu, 04 Aug 2005
Source: Gateway, The (U of Alberta, CN AB Edu)
Copyright: 2005 Gateway Student Journalism Society
Contact:  http://www.gateway.ualberta.ca/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/3149
Author: Tim Peppin
Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/mjcn.htm (Cannabis - Canada)
Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/decrim.htm (Decrim/Legalization)
Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/youth.htm (Youth)

MARC EMERY MUST NOT BE EXTRADITED

So Marc Emery has been arrested again, and this time, it seems, it's 
serious. Marc Emery, for those of you who don't know, is the president of 
the British Columbia Marijuana Party. He runs a prolific marijuana seed 
distribution company, or ran one I should say, as it has now been raided 
and shut down. He is famous for having smoked marijuana in front of police 
stations across the country in the summer of 2003 to demonstrate the 
absence of valid anti-marijuana laws. And he has frequently been put 
through the Canadian legal system on pot-related charges: a conviction in 
2004 for "trafficking" comes to mind, when he was seen by police officers 
to have passed a joint to a university student. Heaven forfend.

Ordinarily, Mr Emery's arrest wouldn't surprise me. When you openly flout 
standing laws--hypocritical and asinine though they are--and are an 
outspoken political activist, the attentions of law enforcement officials 
are likely to be disproportionately directed towards you, regardless of 
whether this should be the case in an ostensibly rational and free society.

What does trouble me about Mr Emery's arrest is that it was not initiated 
by Canadian law enforcement. The investigation and subsequent arrest of Mr 
Emery was a result of the attentions of the American Drug Enforcement 
Administration, an agency which is now requesting his extradition. If 
extradited, he will be tried on charges of conspiracy to distribute 
marijuana and marijuana seeds, and conspiracy to launder money. Given his 
unabashed involvement in the legalization movement and the simple existence 
of a seed distribution company bearing his name, a conviction would be 
assured. The maximum sentence, when convicted, is life imprisonment.

Now I understand that as a sovereign nation, the United States has the 
right to create and enforce any laws which it chooses, no matter how 
ludicrous. But Canada has the right--and the obligation--to protect its 
citizens from persecution deemed injust or excessive. Surely we must admit 
that in a country which no longer prosecutes the distribution of marijuana 
seeds, which in many areas willfully neglects to prosecute the traffic of 
marijuana, and which as a whole is considering its decriminalization, the 
extradition of a political activist to face some of the harshest prison 
sentences and conditions on the continent is inconsistent, to put it mildly.

The American War on Drugs has failed in its objectives and caused 
considerable social harm. This most recent attempt to force misguided and 
ineffective law enforcement methods across our border is an imposition we 
must not tolerate. If Marc Emery is extradited to be prosecuted for actions 
which we on the whole no longer believe to be criminal, it will be an 
infringement upon our sovereignty as a nation, our rights to free 
expression and behaviour as individuals, and our belief in political 
freedom. Serious, indeed.
- ---
MAP posted-by: Beth