Pubdate: Mon, 08 Aug 2005
Source: Vancouver Courier (CN BC)
Copyright: 2005 Vancouver Courier
Contact:  http://www.vancourier.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/474
Author: Naoibh O'Connor, Staff writer
Alert: Is Canada a United States Puppet? www.mapinc.org/alert/0314.html
Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/pot.htm (Marijuana)
Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/mjcn.htm (Cannabis - Canada)
Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/people/Marc+Emery (Emery, Marc)

NO APOLOGIES FROM DEA

Special agent Jeffrey Eig, spokes-person at the DEA office's Seattle
Field Division, doesn't mince words when talking about Marc Emery, who
faces extradition to the U.S. on marijuana-related charges.

"Mr. Emery was engaged in a criminal enterprise when he was sending 75
per cent of his seeds to the United States. We went after him because
he's a major criminal-a head of a criminal organization," Eig said
Thursday by phone from Seattle. "His organization is tied to multiple
marijuana grows and marijuana seeders in the United States, as well as
illegal money movement, and when you consider in the United States
that there are more young people in treatment from marijuana than all
other drugs combined, it's a serious issue and we're going to attack
the problem by taking off the leadership."

The DEA has field offices in 58 countries, including Canada, he noted,
and its goal is to dismantle drug-related organizations. While
Vancouver marijuana activist Emery, 47, was arrested, along with
codefendants Gregory Keith Williams, 50, and Michelle Rainey-Fenkarek,
34, Eig is not ruling out further arrests. "The investigation
continues and the possibility of more arrests is certainly there...
the DEA is in the business of taking off organizations, not
individuals, so we're going to take organizations down from top to
bottom and that includes the leadership, financiers, transporters and
everybody in between."

Eig won't specify what the role of Vancouver-based DEA agents was in
this case, but said its international operations are critical in
investigations.

According to Ian Hillman, spokesman for the American consulate in
downtown Vancouver, there are four DEA agents working out of the
consulate in this city, who are part of what's called an "integrated
law enforcement hub," which includes the U.S. Secret Service, the
Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms bureau (ATF), the FBI and Homeland
Security. The Secret Service has been based in Vancouver the longest.
Although, perhaps best known for protecting the U.S. president, the
Secret Service investigates counterfeit money cases and crimes like
credit card fraud.

Hillman said the DEA agents act as liaison officers, meant to help
with information exchange with their Canadian counterparts, and to
strengthen the integrated border enforcement team, which has existed
for a couple of decades. The DEA's assignment in Vancouver, which
started about a-year-and-a-half ago, stems from an agreement signed
after Sept. 11 to strengthen cross-border cooperation. Another
"integrated law enforcement hub" operates in Ottawa and a third is
being put together in Toronto.

"[DEA officers are] not investigating officers in the same capacity as
they would be in the U.S.," added Hillman, noting they have no
authority to make arrests or conduct investigations in Canada.

Eig offers no apologies for the DEA's decision to target Emery and his
codefendants, in spite of arguments from many Canadians that marijuana
is a harmless drug and the U.S. has no business interfering with
Canadian social policies.

"It is not a harmless drug. It devastates lives. Innocent people get
harmed by this. It is not a victimless crime that people would portray
it as," he said. "And again, [Emery] was making millions of dollars at
the expense of people in the United States and Canada and he was doing
it by illegal means." 
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MAP posted-by: Richard Lake