Pubdate: Fri, 26 Aug 2005 Source: Metro (CN BC) Page: 1 Copyright: Metro 2005 Contact: http://www.metronews.ca/ Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/3775 Author: Maria Hampton EMERY FEARS FOR LIFE Prince Of Pot Will Use Bail Money To Fund Extradition Defence Cannabis crusader Marc Emery warned yesterday that if the U.S. succeeds in its bid to extradite him on drug and money laundering charges, "you will never see me alive in Canada again." Emery and co-accused Michelle Rainey-Fenkarek and Greg Smith sat emotionless in bullet-proof cubicles at the B.C. Supreme Court as Associate Chief Justice Patrick Dohm agreed to the cash-strapped activists' request to use $15,000 bail money to fund a defence team and set Sept. 16th as their trial's start date. Emery, who was arrested in Halifax by the RCMP on July 29th following an 18-month investigation by the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration, is accused of selling marijuana seeds to Americans through mail and the Internet, conspiracy to manufacture marijuana and conspiracy to engage in money laundering, charges which could net him life in prison. Speaking later on the courthouse steps, the self-proclaimed Prince of Pot said: "The DEA coming and spiriting me away to spend the rest of my life in prison has to be the most outrageous assault on sovereignty in the history of the Canadian nation. "If a person like me can be spirited away, no one is safe." Emery estimated he had made $4 million from his Vancouver based seed business over the past 11 years. But he said the bail request was necessary because he had donated money to rallies, clinics and political organizations and his magazine and television enterprises had been damaged by fear of the DEA crackdown. "I never kept a cent," he said. - --- MAP posted-by: Jay Bergstrom