Pubdate: Fri, 05 Aug 2005
Source: Chilliwack Progress (CN BC)
Copyright: 2005 The Chilliwack Progress
Contact:  http://www.theprogress.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/562
Author: Kurt Langmann, Editor - Aldergrove Star
Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/mjcn.htm (Cannabis - Canada)

NO SURPRISE TO POT SHUT DOWN

Marc Emery, the colourful leader of the B.C. Marijuana Party who failed to 
win the Fort Langley-Aldergrove seat in the recent provincial election, was 
arrested last week in an international police operation that alleges his 
Internet marijuana seed sales were destined for the U.S.

He's currently being held in Canada for extradition hearings that could 
take up to two years and may result in his extradition to the U.S. on the 
charges.

While Canada has a much more lenient or tolerant attitude on the subject 
than our counterparts in the U.S., some of the reaction on this side of the 
border has been over the top.

Certainly the arrest and raid on Emery's Vancouver marijuana business was 
done by Canadian authorities in coordination with the U.S. Drug Enforcement 
Administration, and Emery faces severe penalties in the U.S. if extradited 
and convicted, but any hand-wringing over our "loss of sovereignty" is 
unrealistic.

Canadians have long cooperated with U.S. authorities in international 
criminal investigations. And, despite Canada's consideration of more 
lenient laws regarding marijuana, it remains a criminal offence on both 
sides of the border.

There would be a massive outcry here if Canadians didn't cooperate with 
Americans in prosecuting murderers, kidnappers, child molesters and stock 
swindlers. In that sense, Emery is no different - he stands accused of 
illegally exporting seeds into the U.S.

The fact that it's an Internet business bears no weight in the argument. In 
cases of Internet child pornography, no right-thinking Canadian would want 
to interfere with the extradition of a person accused of this crime. On the 
other hand, Canada has a sticky situation with the ongoing U.S. efforts to 
shut down the Internet poker gambling sites, as one of them has a bank of 
computer servers based in a Quebec native reservation that is theoretically 
off-limits to authorities.

Canadians have seen the humour in the recent Aldergrove drug tunnel bust, 
but it's only funny because it was shut down so quickly. It would not have 
been so humourous if hard narcotics and illegal weapons had started coming 
this way into Canada.

While Canada has a much more lenient or tolerant attitude on the subject 
than our counterparts in the U.S., some of the reaction on this side of the 
border has been over the top.
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MAP posted-by: Beth