Pubdate: Sun, 16 May 2010
Source: Province, The (CN BC)
Copyright: 2010 Canwest Publishing Inc.
Contact: http://www.canada.com/theprovince/letters.html
Website: http://www.canada.com/theprovince/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/476
Author: Jodie Emery

POT MANOEUVRES

Marc Emery is a Canadian who never went to the U.S. and never grew or 
sold marijuana. He sold only cannabis seeds in Canada for over a 
decade, paid taxes on all income, and used the profits to fund 
political activism.

The Drug Enforcement Administration bragged Marc's 2005 arrest was "a 
significant blow to the marijuana legalization movement" because 
"hundreds of thousands of dollars of Emery's profits are known to 
have been channelled to marijuana legalization groups active in the 
United States and Canada." It's all about politics, not about pot. 
Vancouver police tried to have Marc charged in 2003, but the Crown 
declined -- so the VPD worked with the U.S. to indict him south of the border.

In 2008, American authorities offered a plea deal that would allow 
Marc to serve his time in Canada if he was charged here, but the 
Conservative government refused.

If Marc broke the law in Canada, he should be tried and sentenced in 
Canada, not sent to a foreign country to be punished under much harsher laws.

Jodie Emery, Vancouver
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