VANCOUVER -- An American pot activist who launched an intense legal fight against extradition to the U.S., has quietly settled her legal and immigration issues. After negotiating a plea agreement of simple possession of marijuana with U.S. prosecutors, Renee Boje dropped her extradition appeal in B.C. and returned to California from B.C. last month. She had faced a prison term of 10 years to life in connection with a medical marijuana grow operation. Her lawyer, John Conroy, said instead of that sentence a U.S. judge gave Boje one year's probation without supervision if she remains in Canada. [continues 81 words]
TABLE OF CONTENTS: * This Just In http://www.drugsense.org/dsw/2006/ds06.n463.html#sec1 (1) Feds Turn To Europe For Advice On Drugs (2) Physical Punishment Of Drug Addicts Banned (3) No Jail For Cannabis Doctor (4) Marijuana May Relieve Chemo Patients' Nausea * Weekly News in Review http://www.drugsense.org/dsw/2006/ds06.n463.html#sec2 Drug Policy (5) Conviction of McLean Pain Doctor Overturned (6) OPED: Sex, Drugs And Stereotypes (7) Drug War Poses Another Tough Task Along Border (8) Man Accused Of Paying Workers With Cocaine [continues 291 words]
Salvia Divinorum, a Hallucinogenic Popular on Campus, Could Also Be Useful in Treating a Variety of Mental Illnesses Hunter knows how to mellow out on marijuana. It's something he does all the time. But the first time he smoked the leaves of a plant dubbed the "magic mint," he felt as if he'd been slammed into another dimension. As drug trips go, this one was more terror than pleasure. "The first time I did it was with a lot of people," recalls Hunter, a Toronto university student who asked that his real name not be used. "That was probably a bad idea because I did it and before I even knew what was happening . . . Then someone was around me and they just tapped my shoulder, and . . . it felt like spikes going into my body. I felt like I was being stabbed, but obviously it was the Salvia." [continues 704 words]
Pot Activist Emery's Bride Knows He's Likely to End Up in U.S. Jail VANCOUVER -- Marc Emery, Canada's so-called Prince of Pot, got married yesterday to a woman who apparently doesn't mind that her husband could spend large parts of their marriage in court or in jail as part of his mission to legalize marijuana. "I will support him no matter what happens in any situation," Jodie Emery, 21, said shortly after the wedding. "I'm just so happy right now to be married to him." [continues 461 words]
I want to commend Dean Kuipers for his excellent article "The Strange and Seedy Case of Marc Emery, Canadian" [Re: Cover story, Sept. 22]. As a Canadian, I have been following this story very closely from my side of the border. Canadian news coverage was slow to start mainly because of the timing of the arrests, which occurred at the beginning of a long weekend in Canada. But since then, there has been steady coverage of the story in the Canadian media. Not so for the American media. [continues 373 words]
Editor, Regarding the quote of Irwin Cotler's decision, which appeared in an article entitled, 'It's A Serious Sovereignty Issue' (Aug. 25 issue). That statement cannot go unchallenged. When a situation prevails where a wife and mother is torn from a loving family environment to appease Canada's international commitments, and that it is a "not uncommon" occurrence, the Minister of Justice and Attorney General of Canada Irwin Cotler is clearly mistaken. The surrender of Renee Boje to the U.S. to stand trial is sufficiently shocking to the Canadian conscience to render that surrender unacceptable in the extreme. She is neither a serial killer, a violent criminal offender, a threat to her immediate community, or a terrorist. [continues 170 words]
A Deep Cove woman who faces a minimum 10-year U.S. prison sentence for allegedly moving and watering marijuana plants at a Bel Air, California residence eight years ago, is appealing an extradition order from the U.S government. "I face something that's incredibly scary, " says Renee Boje. "It's been devastating for me. It's caused a great deal of stress in my life. I feel I don't need to be persecuted in this way. On July 29, 1997 Boje, a recent graduate from Marymount University, was working on her first freelance arts project illustrating a book called, How to Grow Medical Marijuana. [continues 813 words]
Even Supporters Of 'Prince Of Pot' Disturbed By Content Of Websites OTTAWA (CNS) -- Marijuana crusader Marc Emery has unexpectedly found himself under fire this week as web-loggers scrutinize the content of his websites, including a posting from his "jail blog" last summer in which he called federal Justice Minister Irwin Cotler a "Nazi-Jew." With the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration after him, the case of Emery, British Columbia's "Prince of Pot," has become a cause celebre. Since his arrest a month ago, he has been facing possible extradition to the United States for selling marijuana seeds to American customers. [continues 674 words]
Marc Emery Defends Description Of Justice Minister As A 'Nazi-Jew' OTTAWA - Marijuana crusader Marc Emery has found himself under fire this week as bloggers scrutinize the content of his Web sites, including a posting from his "jail blog" last summer in which he called federal Justice Minister Irwin Cotler a "Nazi-Jew." With the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration after him, the case of British Columbia's "Prince of Pot," has become a cause celebre. Since his arrest a month ago, he has been facing possible extradition to the United States for selling marijuana seeds to U.S. customers. [continues 868 words]
Kirk Tousaw is ready for battle. The campaign manager for the B.C. Marijuana Party is determined to derail U.S. attempts to extradite Marc Emery, along with two other marijuana activists, for marijuana-related federal charges south of the border. Whether he and supporters will succeed is in question, but Tousaw, who learned of the arrests right after finishing a law society bar exam, is convinced ordinary Canadians are behind the cause and oppose U.S. attempts to influence drug policy in this country. [continues 490 words]
About 100 supporters staged a demonstration -- which at times looked more like a circus -- in Vancouver's Victory Square Park yesterday to protest a police raid on a business owned by marijuana activist Marc Emery. Among the protesters, many of whom lit up marijuana cigarettes in solidarity with the jailed leader of the B.C. Marijuana Party, was "Uncle Scam," a man dressed in a parody of the patriotic American icon Uncle Sam. [continues 628 words]
"The history of the 'war on drugs,' and more specifically the well-documented history of marijuana legislation, makes it clear that the goals of the repeatedly declared 'wars' have little to do with availability and use of harmful substances, and a lot to do with what is called 'population control' in the literature of counterinsurgency. The targets are both at home and abroad-overwhelmingly the poor and defenseless... The 'war on drugs' has the dual function of eliminating the disposable people (being civilized, we lock them up rather than murdering them) and frightening the rest, and has been cynically used for these purposes. The case of Renee Boje illustrates this cynical abuse of power..." [continues 700 words]
Re: American medical marijuana advocate could get 10 years for watering plants, June 18. Renee Boje ought to be rewarded for her courageous stand against the United States government on the issue of the medical use of cannabis. Prime Minister Paul Martin can earn himself the respect the overwhelming majority of Canadians who support medicinal cannabis by granting Ms. Boje sanctuary. Many in Mr. Martin's own party believe the American regime is run by overzealous fundamentalists. Political asylum can be granted on compassionate grounds and Ms. Boje is the perfect candidate. Canada certainly has plenty of reason to welcome her as a political refugee. Ms. Boje faces 10 years in jail for the compassionate "crime" of providing medicine to the ailing. Given that Canadians accept cannabis as medicine and Americans do not, Ms. Boje ought to be treated like Mother Teresa, not like infamous bank robber Ma Barker. Chris Buors, Winnipeg, President, Marijuana Party of Manitoba [end]
Re: Cotler Orders Celebrated Marijuana Activist Extradited To U.S. For Trial, June 18. Renee Boje ought to be rewarded for her courageous stand against the United States government on the medical cannabis issue. There is such a thing as compassionate grounds for granting political asylum and Ms. Boje is the perfect candidate, since she faces 10 years in prison for the "crime" of providing medicine to the ailing. Given the fact that Canadians accept cannabis as medicine, Ms. Boje ought to be treated here like Mother Teresa not Ma Barker. Chris Buors, Winnipeg. [end]
3-Month Reprieve: U.S. Prisons 'Cruel, Inhumane' An American woman fighting extradition to the U.S. on the grounds she'd be subjected to "cruel and inhumane" treatment in prisons there can stay in Canada for at least another three months, Ottawa has ruled. Renee Boje -- sought by the U.S. for a return to return to her native California to answer charges of aiding a California grow-op -- surrendered to officials at B.C. Supreme Court Friday. A day earlier, federal Justice Minister Irwin Cotler rejected her bid to stay in Canada, putting back into motion her extradition process, but giving her three months' time. [continues 266 words]
But 'Gnostic' Renee Boje Is Free On Bail And Preparing To Ask B.C. Appeal Court To Reverse Decision Renee Boje, the 34-year-old U.S. marijuana refugee, checked herself in and out of jail at the B.C. Law Courts Friday after federal Justice Minister Irwin Cotler ordered her out of the country. She surrendered to sheriffs at about 8:30 a.m. and was granted bail about 90 minutes later after a five-minute hearing in a packed B.C. Supreme Court. [continues 614 words]
Justice Minister Irwin Cotler has ordered the extradition of a woman who faces trial in California for tending marijuana plants at the Cannabis Castle, a Bel Air mansion that served as one of the state's first medical marijuana grow-ops in the 1990s. Renee Boje, 35, who has a Canadian husband and young son, surrendered herself yesterday to court officials in British Columbia. She was granted bail while pursuing judicial review of Mr. Cotler's decision. That process will postpone her extradition until at least the end of September. [continues 672 words]
CNS - Justice Minister Irwin Cotler has ordered the extradition of a celebrated activist who faces trial in California for tending pot plants at the Cannabis Castle, a Bel Air mansion that served as one of the state's first medical marijuana grow-ops in the 1990s. Renee Boje, 35, who has a Canadian husband and son, surrendered herself yesterday to a B.C. court. She was granted bail while pursuing review of Mr. Cotler's decision. That process will postpone extradition until at least September. The U.S. citizen sought refugee status in Canada in 1998, following her arrest on drug-trafficking charges. Her defenders -- including Noam Chomsky, Michael Moore and Woody Harrelson -- have cast her as a pawn in a misguided U.S. war against drugs. [end]
OTTAWA - Justice Minister Irwin Cotler has ordered the extradition of a celebrated activist who faces trial in California for tending pot plants at the Cannabis Castle, a Bel Air mansion that served as one of the state's first medical marijuana grow-ops in the 1990s. Renee Boje, 35, who has a Canadian husband and young son, surrendered herself Friday to court officials in British Columbia. She was granted bail while pursuing judicial review of Cotler's decision. That process will postpone her extradition until at least the end of September. [continues 73 words]
VANCOUVER - The federal government has denied refugee status to an American woman who faces drug conspiracy charges in the U.S. for her role in a marijuana grow-op. Renee Boje of Vancouver has been ordered to surrender to Canadian authorities in B.C,, to be deported to the U.S. to face the drug charges. Boje says she will comply with the order, but will continue to fight her extradition. Eight years ago, Boje was arrested and charged in California. A year later she arrived in Canada, where she applied for refugee status. [continues 214 words]
Boje, Renee
