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." - --- MAP posted-by: Richard Lake