Pubdate: Tue, 29 Sep 2009
Source: Province, The (CN BC)
Copyright: 2009 Canwest News Service
Contact: http://www.canada.com/theprovince/letters.html
Website: http://www.canada.com/theprovince/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/476
Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/people/Marc+Emery

POT PRINCE AWAITS EXTRADITION

Canada's self-proclaimed "Prince of Pot" was escorted out of B.C.
Supreme Court and into jail Monday to await extradition to the U.S.,
where he is to serve up to five years in prison for shipping marijuana
seeds across the border.

Marc Emery, 51, was indicted in 2005 along with two associates on drug
and money-laundering charges stemming from a lucrative mail-order
pot-seed business run out of Emery's Vancouver book and paraphernalia
shop, which also doubled as B.C.'s Marijuana Party
headquarters.

Two charges Emery faced -- conspiracy to distribute marijuana and
conspiracy to engage in money-laundering -- were dropped in exchange
for his guilty plea on the charge of conspiracy to manufacture pot.

He has agreed to a five-year imprisonment plea-bargain in connection
with his $3-million-a-year marijuana seed catalogue business, where
most of his customers were American.

Canadian authorities drew criticism for helping the U.S. nab Emery
because he openly participated in an operation that drew little heat
in Canada.

Emery was convicted in Canada of selling pot seeds in 1998 and fined
$2,000.

Emery's two associates, Michelle Rainey, 38, and Gregory Williams, 54,
were recently sentenced in the U.S. as a result of a plea deal to two
years' probation for conspiracy to manufacture marijuana.

Emery will be held for 30 days to give him time to appeal and then,
once the federal justice minister has signed the removal order, Emery
will be handed over to the U.S. 
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MAP posted-by: Richard Lake