Pubdate: Fri, 05 Aug 2005
Source: Parksville Qualicum Beach News (CN BC)
Copyright: 2005 Parksville Qualicum Beach News
Contact:  http://www.pqbnews.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/1361
Author: Neil Horner
Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/people/Marc+Emery (Emery, Marc)

LOCAL POT ACTIVISTS DECRY MARC EMERY'S ARREST

The arrest of Marijuana Party president Marc Emery and two of his
employees last Friday was a blatant attack on Canada's sovereignty,
say two local pot activists.

Emery and employees Michelle Rainey and Gregory Williams were arrested
by RCMP at the request of the U.S. Drug Enforcement Agency (DEA) for
allegedly selling marijuana. The United States government is seeking
Emery's extradition on the basis that the trio allegedly conspired to
distribute marijuana seeds in the United States and launder money. If
extradited, Emery could face as much as life in prison.

That, says Mid-Island Compassion Club head Mark Russell, is a clear
violation of Canada's sovereignty.

"They are trying to get us to send a Canadian citizen down there for
something that's not a crime in Canada," he says. "I think our
government should stand up to them, period. This is not a marijuana
issue. This is an issue about Canadian sovereignty and human rights.

Mid-Island Compassion Club has been selling medical marijuana to
people suffering from a number of ailments such as AIDS, cancer and
multiple sclerosis (MS) in the Oceanside area for the last four years.

"If Marc Emery has committed a crime in Canada he should be tried in
Canada," he says. "Since he hasn't committed a crime that I'm aware
of, he should be freed and the Americans should be told to go to hell,
or somewhere nearby.

Emery was released on bail Wednesday.

Russell says the arrest put a chill down the spines of people involved
in the marijuana activist community, but he doesn't think his small
operation, which serves between 60 and 70 members, will be targeted.

Mik Mann, the Alberni-Qualicum candidate for the B.C. Marijuana Party,
agrees with Russell's assessment.

"Here is Marc Emery paying huge amounts of income tax for eight or
nine years for selling seeds and the RCMP and Vancouver police were
well aware of what he was doing," Mann says. "Health Canada has been
directing a number of legal exemptees (people who, like Mann, are
allowed to smoke marijuana for medical reasons) to Marc's web site as
a source of seeds to grow their medicine.

Mann says Canada has a very different attitude towards marijuana than
the United States, and that position should be made clear.

Mann says he plans to attend a protest at the DEA office in Vancouver
next month, where he plans to light up his bong in defiance.

Vacationing Nanaimo-Alberni MP Dr. James Lunney was not available to
comment on the issue by press time. 
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MAP posted-by: Richard Lake