Wednesday, November 18th, 2009 at 4:57 pm | By: Missippi Hippy
(METRO VANCOUVER) B.C.’s Prince of Pot has been granted bail and could temporarily be released from jail as early as today as he continues to await extradition to the U.S. to plead guilty to selling marijuana seeds.
Marc Emery has been held at the North Surrey Pre-Trial Centre in Port Coquitlam since turning himself over to authorities on Sept. 28.
He has promised to surrender to U.S. custody within 72 hours after an extradition order is signed, which could happen as soon as Dec. 1, which is the final day for submissions.
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Monday, July 20th, 2009 at 12:20 pm | By: Radical Russ
After four years of politically charged legal wrangling, two employees of Canada’s so-called “Prince of Pot” have avoided prison for their roles in exporting marijuana seeds to the U.S. by mail-order.
The plea deal, finalized on Friday, sets the stage for the Prince of Pot himself, Marc Emery, to surrender to U.S. authorities later this year to face prison time. That will close the long-running, high-profile case that had pitted some of Canada’s most vocal marijuana activists against the Justice Department in a war of words.
U.S. District Judge Ricardo Martinez accepted the deal for Michelle Rainey, 38, and Gregory Williams, 54, to be sentenced to two years of probation for conspiracy to manufacture marijuana. Both may return to Canada, where they remain active in the marijuana-legalization movement.
[Emery] has said his seed business was a way to “overgrow” the U.S. war on marijuana, which he has called “immoral and lethal.” He and supporters accused the Justice Department of indicting him and his employees for political reasons.
Federal prosecutors have vehemently denied that.
“We went after him for his criminal activities, not for his political views,” Emily Langlie, a spokeswoman for the U.S. Attorney’s Office in Seattle, reiterated Friday.
Yeah, right. That’s like saying the FBI wiretapped Martin Luther King Jr. because he was holding marches without a permit and John Lennon because of indecent exposure on the “Two Virgins” album cover. (Note: I am not directly elevating Emery to King or Lennon status; neither of them ever called me “ignorant and unworthy”. On the other hand, King and Lennon never helped produce the crops of fine Pacific Northwest sativas I enjoy, either. Emery did eventually decide I was a “pretty useful guy”, so I guess we’re cool.)
In the piece, Emery states he believes the US actions to bring him to prison will ultimately backfire. As the “Prince of Pot” continues his activism during incarceration, his status in and outside the cannabis community will grow as Tommy Chong’s did during his stint in jail. Americans will have to reconcile the notion that our federal government reached its tentacles into an allied foreign country to lock up a successful businessman, publisher, and political activist for selling seeds. They’ll be forced to confront the idea that if you willingly and knowingly order an unsmokable, never-get-you-high marijuana seed from Marc Emery, you plant it into the ground, you water and care for it, you harvest and cure it and smoke it, that makes Marc Emery a drug dealer.
Wednesday, June 10th, 2009 at 1:20 pm | By: Radical Russ
On June 8, the House of Commons passed a bill to institute mandatory minimum sentencing for marijuana and other drug crimes.
Bill C-15 seeks to impose mandatory minimum penalties for marijuana and other drug offences, including 6 months for 5 marijuana plants.
Marc Emery, the founder of the BC Marijuana Party and publisher of Cannabis [Culture], is currently facing extradition to the United States on charges of distribution of marijuana seeds.
Recently, Emery announced he intends to plead guilty to the charges in exchange for a reduced sentence, to be served in the United States.
“Stephen Harper hates the marijuana culture. First they went after me, now they’re renewing their attack on the overall culture,” said Emery in a press release from Cannabis Culture. “If marijuana people don’t stand up against C-15, they’ll find their freedom replaced with the bars of a jail cell.”
The bill has been widely criticized by criminal justice experts, who point to the total failure of mandatory minimum sentencing in the United States to deter or reduce the amount of drug crimes occurring.
But who listens to experts these days, anyway. So what if mandatory minimum sentencing has no effect on marijuana use, but a dramatically disastrous effect on our society and rates of incarceration? That’s not what Stephen Harper and conservatives of his ilk care about, anyway. It’s about votes. It’s about being “tough on crime”. It’s about culture war. It’s about hating “hippies”.
What Harper is about to discover, however, is that marijuana is no longer the third-rail redheaded-stepchild political-football issue it used to be. When only a quarter of the people supported legalization, when medical marijuana was still considered an oxymoron, and when few knew the difference between cannabis, coke, and crystal meth, you could beat the scary drug war drums and create a “tough on crime” aura around yourself. But now a majority of Canadians support legalization, medical marijuana is grown by the government, and most people know full well that pot ain’t crack.
Stephen Harper’s about to get a lesson Michael Phelps and Kellogg’s know too well: we’re mad as hell and we’re not going to take this anymore!
A pair from Vancouver, B.C., pleaded guilty in Seattle’s federal court today in a marijuana-manufacturing operation.
The U.S. Attorney’s Office in Seattle said Michelle Rainey, 38, and Gregory Keith Williams, 54, voluntarily appeared in Seattle to resolve charges stemming from a 2005 grand-jury indictment. The attorney’s office said the two were employees of marijuana-seed distributor Marc Emery, who remains in Canada while fighting extradition to the U.S. on similar charges.
Terms of plea agreements for Rainey and Williams include recommended sentences of two years probation. Sentencing is scheduled for July 17.
The BC3: Greg Williams, Marc Emery, and Michelle Rainey
According to court documents, Rainey worked for Emery, who billed himself as the “prince of pot,” from 1998 to 2005, assisting with Emery’s mail-order marijuana-seed business, which had many U.S. customers
Court documents said Williams handled phone orders and also sold seeds directly to customers. Authorities said Williams had sold seeds to a Drug Enforcement Administration undercover agent.
Authorities said Emery’s seed operation took in more than $3 million annually.
Emery is scheduled for an extradition hearing in Canada on June 1.
This is a surprise turn-about of events because Marc Emery had made previous statements to the effect the BC3 would not come to the United States to stand trial.
Jody Emery, editor of Cannabis Culture Magazine and wife of Mr. Emery, said her husband is “very happy that Greg and Michelle will not be punished with a 10-20 year jail sentence.”
“The United States wants Marc,” she said, “and he has never wanted it on his conscience that Greg and Michelle were taken in, too. So he feels relieved.”
The extradition trial of the so-called cannabis crusader begins in B.C. Supreme Court on June 1. “Now he gets to defend himself, and that’s the way he wants it,” Ms. Emery said.
“If he’s punished, it should be here in Canada. That’s where all his activities have been carried out. He has never operated in the United States.”
The three were arrested after undercover agents from the Drug Enforcement Administration in the U.S. alleged in affidavits that they had been sold marijuana seeds directly at Mr. Emery’s cannabis operation on Vancouver’s West Hastings Street. Since the arrests, the business has closed.
Monday, March 31st, 2008 at 9:31 am | By: Radical Russ
Plea deal for Canada’s Prince of Pot falls apart | Canada | Reuters
VANCOUVER, British Columbia (Reuters) – Canada’s “Prince of Pot” believes the Canadian government wants to punish him by blocking a plea deal with U.S. authorities, who want him to face charges of selling marijuana seeds from his Vancouver store to American customers.
Canada refused to go along with Marc Emery’s deal with U.S. prosecutors to plead guilty in return for the United States dropping charges against two co-accused and allowing him to serve most of the sentence in a Canadian prison, the marijuana activist said on Friday.
The B.C. Marijuana Party founder said Prime Minister Stephen Harper’s Conservative government is pursuing a get-tough policy on drug use and is upset by his long-running campaign for marijuana legalization.
“They want to make an example out of me,” Emery told CKNW radio in Vancouver. “They just don’t like me.”
Emery was arrested in 2005 at the request of U.S. officials for allegedly selling millions of dollars in seeds to U.S. buyers, mostly by mail-order, from the seed business he operated openly in Canada for years.
A U.S. Drug Enforcement Agency statement in 2005 hailed Emery’s arrest as blow to the “marijuana legalization movement” and cited his financial support of pro-pot groups in Canada and the United States.
Emery is also charged with money laundering, but he says he can prove he declared all his earnings to Canadian tax officials and gave most of the profits to charities and political candidates.
He is scheduled to appear in a Vancouver court next month, with an extradition hearing likely to start late in the year.
The Marc Emery case shows just how crazy the international War on Marijuana has become. Emery was openly operating his seed business from a storefront in Vancouver, BC. The Canadian government could have shut him down and arrested him at any time; instead, Health Canada was actually recommending his business to their medical marijuana patients. Emery’s been paying federal and provincial taxes the whole time; the Canadian government certainly didn’t object to that.
But now the US DEA wants to make an example of him and demands extradition from Canada so he can face a potential life sentence under the mandatory minimums for being a drug kingpin. To the Americans authorities, every seed he ever sold is treated as a full-grown plant.
This was unacceptable to the Canadians, because under their laws, Emery would be facing a punishment far less severe. The Canadians rightfully saw turning Emery over to the Americans to be a cruel and unjust punishment.
So the Canadians and Americans negotiate this plea deal – Emery will accept a ten year sentence from the American courts, in exchange, Emery’s two co-defendents will be set free. Also, five years of the sentence will be suspended, and Emery will serve only the first 45 days in an American prison before spending the remainder of his five years in a much safer and more comfortable Canadian prison.
However, now that plea deal is denied, not because the Americans thought it was too lenient, but rather because the Americans were insisting that there be no early release from prison for Emery’s five year sentence. Canadian law forbids a judge from imposing such a guarantee, so Emery is in this strange situation where Canada can’t agree to the five year prison sentence they want and he volunteered to serve, and Canada may end up shipping him to the US for life in prison.
Did I mention that this is a guy who sells plant seeds for living?
The United States wants to extradite Marc Emery — who founded a political party and campaigned across Canada to legalize pot — on charges he illegally sold marijuana seeds from his Vancouver store to American buyers.
Emery tentatively agreed with U.S. prosecutors in January to plead guilty in return for the charges being dropped against two other defendants and he being allowed to spend the bulk of a 10-year sentence in Canada.
Canada must also approve the deal, but its prosecutors say a Canadian judge cannot be ordered to impose a U.S. prison sentence of no release for at least five years that is stricter than Canadian law requires.
“The Canadian government says that’s not legal in Canada … and so Justice Department in the United States says the deal is not possible because the Canadians are not playing ball so to speak,” Emery told reporters.
Emery was in court in Vancouver on Wednesday to set a date for his extradition trial, but a judge agreed to postpone the hearing until April 19 to allow his lawyers, U.S. and Canadian prosecutors to continue negotiating.
Emery said he will fight extradition if a deal is not reached.
Emery has accused Canadian police of bowing to U.S. political demands by arresting him in 2005, since his activities were well-known and tolerated in Canada — where he even paid taxes on his seed sales.
It’s bad enough that the US anti-marijuana policies create huge injustice in our own country. What’s more troubling is that our superpower status has made it possible to overtly manipulate other governments into committing anti-marijuana injustices.
RevRayGreen: I'll post a pic of me and my son....gimme a minute
Missippi Hippy: Guess what... I'm gonna be a new... ummmmm well, my pet piggie Ganja is in labor and they ain't mine in the same sense. See what your wife [...]
RevRayGreen: days they didn't talk back..or act disrespectful..
RevRayGreen: feel so lucky my son is 18 going 19 and my daughter 16 going on 17..relish the days that can't talk back
Urb Age: Congrats Spof thats awesome. My little Clara is about to hit 20 months. Im not the activist I used to be, but its made me a better man.
Urb Age: Heck I was gonna go up there, but just not feeling well this weekend..Dang it, I hate it when that happens..
RevRayGreen: wishing I was hanging at NORML cafe...
JohnH: Just a quick comment about tokin' and sperm motility....been tokin since age 14 and have 8 kids ranging in age from 30 to 9...(what can I say, I found 2 [...]
slash5city: really ..oprah 35 yr or more in the closet toker ...outed ....o my god !!
SneakerPimp: that would be huge news just imagen the headline
RevRayGreen: maybe Oprah smokes and keeps it on the DL...
SneakerPimp: and good afternoon
mr reuben: I could do without seeing Rob K. on tv. But Bruce and Eithan get a big thumbs up from me.
SneakerPimp: waitn for NSL and congrast for spofett.
mr reuben: I don't respect her opinion bluzguy.
Missippi Hippy: Something about the last year in a contract... folks become more ballsey... and Oprah has big ones.
Marijuana-Related Health Costs Minimal Compared To Those Of Alcohol, Tobacco; California Medical Association Says Pot Prohibition Is A "Failed Public Health Policy"; Oregon: State NORML Affiliate Opens First 'Cannabis Café'. […]
American Medical Association Calls For Scientific Review Of Marijuana's Prohibitive Status; Dutch Marijuana Use Lower Than European Average, Study Says […]
"Truth In Trials Act" Reintroduced In Congress; Maine: Voters Approve Medical Marijuana Dispensaries Measure; Colorado: Breckenridge Voters Overwhelmingly Decide To End Pot Penalties. […]
Some of the nation’s top athletes discuss why today's pros are turning to cannabis — and away from alcohol and painkillers — off the field, and question why pro sports leagues are continuing to sanction those who do. Moderator: Steve Bloom, Author, Pot Culture; editor, celebstoner.com * Toby Grear, MMA fighter * Sean Neumann, Documentary Filmm […]
Cannabis Law Reform's Missing Link: Law Enforcement Former Seattle Police Chief Norm Stamper; LEAP and NORML Advisory Board; Author of Breaking Rank Putting the Mexican Cartels Out of Business Mexican drug cartels now employ over 100,000 soldiers and are responsible for nearly ten thousand deaths per year. Their largest source of income is marijuana. […]
Marc Emery out on bail until extradition
waitn for NSL and congrast for spofett.
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