'PRINCE OF POT' PLEA DEAL DELAYED

VANCOUVER -- Marijuana crusader Marc Emery is blaming a clash of
judicial cultures for delays in a plea bargain that would send him to
prison briefly in the United States before serving several years in
Canada. The so-called Prince of Pot's extradition case was put over
yesterday until April 9 at the request of his lawyer and a federal
prosecutor representing the U.S. Justice Department.

No reason was given but Mr. Emery said outside B.C. Supreme Court that
there's a disagreement about the legality of the deal in Canada.

Mr. Emery said that in the U.S. system a non-violent first-time
offender like him would normally be released in about 20 months, but
American authorities refuse to accept that.

He said the U.S. wants a Canadian judge to be bound by the agreement
for a minimum prison sentence, he said.

"What's at stake is the Canadian prosecutorial service doesn't think
that it's possible to make a deal where a Canadian judge is compelled
to do something specific, like put me in jail for a minimum length of
time or set some kind of parole date," he said.

"The Canadian government says that's not legal in Canada and that's
what they've told the U.S. prosecution and so the Justice Department
in the United States is saying that our deal's not possible - that
they have to actually put in writing - because the Canadians aren't
playing ball, so to speak."

The Vancouver-based pot-legalization advocate and co-accused Greg
Williams and Michelle Rainey are charged in the U.S. with selling
marijuana seeds over the Internet.

A plea bargain was in the works that would see charges dropped against
Mr. Williams and Ms. Rainey, while Mr. Emery would plead guilty and
receive a prison sentence.

Mr. Emery said if negotiations can't produce an agreement that would
put him in prison for about five years - with only a few months to be
served in U.S. custody - then an extradition hearing would likely go
ahead in the fall.

He said his lawyers have advised him that a joint submission is almost
always accepted by a judge and could include a set parole date.

"That would satisfy the Americans' need to have an in-custody
incarceration for up to five years," he said.

The deal being negotiated would see him convicted on both sides of the
border, Mr. Emery said. He would serve three to six months in a U.S.
prison before being transferred to a Canadian institution for the
balance of his sentence.

Mr. Emery said he finds the whole process odd.

"The Canadian government could just have me charged and that would lay
the matter to rest and they wouldn't have to be concerned because some
judge would come to a determination as to whether I should be
incarcerated," he said.

"This to me is more like collaboration with the United States. It's
like outsourcing our justice system to the United States.

"I don't consider I should have to go to jail at all. I'm doing this
to save my two co-accused and to somewhat resolve the matter."

Mr. Emery has been a thorn in the side of Canadian authorities for
years, holding highly publicized pot "smoke-ins" in a drive to
legalize the drug.

U.S. authorities started the extradition process three years ago when
a federal grand jury indicted Mr. Emery on conspiracy to distribute
marijuana seeds into the United States over the Internet.