POT CRUSADER SAYS CANADIANS WILL BE TO BLAME FOR EXTRADITION

VANCOUVER (CP) -- Pot crusader Marc Emery said Thursday that all Canadians
will be complicit if the United States succeeds in extraditing him to face
drug charges in that country.

Emery, 47, made the comment after a B.C. Supreme Court judge set Sept. 16 as
the start of his extradition hearing that could net him life in prison if he
is convicted on marijuana charges in the U.S.

The longtime pot activist is accused of selling marijuana seeds to Americans
through the Internet and the mail, conspiracy to manufacture marijuana and
conspiracy to engage in money laundering.

Emery's co-accused, Michelle Rainey-Fenkarek and Gregory Keith Smith, were
also in court Thursday.

The trio was arrested July 29 after Vancouver police raided Emery's pot
paraphernalia store following an 18-month investigation by the U.S. Drug
Enforcement Administration.

Emery, who showed up in court with his fiancee and a few supporters, called
the DEA "a Nazi-like military organization."

He said he's been selling his marijuana seeds for 11 years, during which
time Canadians have benefited from the $4 million he's given away to various
organizations.

Jack Layton, leader of the federal NDP, also reaped the rewards of his
popularity because Emery's Internet-based Pot-tv solicited support for the
party from viewers, Emery said.

"Everybody took the money, from the income tax departments representing the
province and the federal government," said Emery, leader of the B.C.
Marijuana party.

"I've never received a written complaint or a phone call in 11 years and I
have a listed phone number.

"So if I get taken away for the rest of my life to a United States prison
then every Canadian has let it happen because they have tacitly and
complicitly condoned my behaviour."

He continued to vent against the DEA, calling it a well-armed beast.

"It's in the business of putting the marijuana culture away in prisons for a
long time.

"As the leader of the marijuana people around the world they have targeted
me and when I go to the United States, if I am extradited, you will never
see me alive in Canada again."