Pubdate: Tue, 09 Aug 2005
Source: Nelson Daily News (CN BC)
Section: Pg 4
Copyright: 2005 Nelson Daily News
Contact:  http://www.nelsondailynews.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/288
Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/mjcn.htm (Cannabis - Canada)

U.S. WAR ON DRUGS BELONGS ON OTHER SIDE OF THE BORDER

The Marc Emery pot seed case makes little sense and Canadian officials had 
the power to ensure that it didn't reach this point.

Do the crime, do the time. That's a fair starting point for looking at the 
plight of Marc Emery, Vancouver's high-profile marijuana activist.

The Americans have come gunning for Emery - with the help of Canadian 
police and prosecutors - and want to take him across the border and lock 
him up for a long time.

Look a little harder at the issues, and the picture changes.

Emery has been running a big marijuana seed business, with a catalogue that 
reads like a brochure for an upscale wine shop. His business is effectively 
legal in Canada. The law banning the sale of seeds hasn't been enforced 
since 1968, and Emery has been selling at his store and through multi-page 
magazine ads without any police action.

But Emery has also been selling seeds to customers in the U.S., and the 
Americans have spent years - and a pile of money - building a case against him.

On one hand Emery apparently made the decision to send seeds into the U.S., 
despite the obvious risks. (None of this has been proven, but there haven't 
been a lot of denials.) Decisions, especially bad ones, have consequences.

But the case isn't quite so simple. Start with the legal issues. Canada and 
the U.S. have extradition treaties that make it easy to yank people across 
the border to face charges. Prosecutors just have to show is that there is 
enough evidence to justify a trial - whether a conviction is likely or not 
- - and the suspect is on his way.

But the treaties say that people can't be extradited for offences that 
aren't considered crimes in their own country.

That raises one likely argument. The law against selling seeds is on the 
books in Canada, but unenforced. Prime Minister Paul Martin has promised to 
remove marijuana possession from the Criminal Code. Emery can make a good 
case that what he has been doing is no longer illegal in Canada, and he 
shouldn't face extradition.

In Canada, there is no effective penalty for selling seeds. In the U.S., 
Emery and the two other people charged face a minimum term of 10 years, and 
the possibility of life behind bars. It's the kind of disparity that should 
raise doubts about the extradition request.

There are other questions.

While Canada has a legal obligation to respond to extradition applications 
once the U.S. has gathered the evidence, Canadian police and prosecutors 
still have the right to decide how much time they're prepared to devote to 
helping make the case.

When the U.S. police and prosecutors asked for help in investigating Emery, 
their Canadian counterparts could have politely declined.

That would have been a legitimate response. When DEA officers want to 
operate in Canada, they first need RCMP consent, and are shadowed by 
Canadian officers.

It's time-consuming and diverts effort from other priorities. In the past 
Canadian police have just said no when the targets didn't justify the 
commitment.

Common sense says they should have said no this time, rather than spending 
almost a  year working with American officers. After all, they hadn't 
considered the seed sales a priority for the last decade. The public, based 
on most polls, doesn't consider it important.

And there are a lot of crime problems that do need tackling, from meth labs 
to gang activity to violent assaults.

The U.S. government has been waging a costly, ineffective war on drugs for 
decades. The approach - trying to reduce supply, and lock up offenders - 
has accomplished nothing. Twenty years ago there were about 80,000 drug 
offenders in U.S. jails; now there are 400,000, at a cost of $16 billion a 
year.

Addiction, death, crime and prisoners have all increased.

The Americans are, of course, free to choose their response to drug use, no 
matter how irrational. But the Canadian government doesn't have to sign on 
as partners helping bring a ineffective, destructive war on drugs across 
the border.

Footnote: One reason for Canadian police co-operation with the DEA is their 
belief that if they don't agree, the U.S. officers will go ahead illegally. 
The BC Supreme Court tossed out an extradition request in 2002 because of 
DEA wrongdoing in Canada. "The illegal conduct is extremely offensive 
because of the violation of Canadian sovereignty without explanation or 
apology," the court found.
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