REAPING WHAT YOU SHOW HAS CONSEQUENCES

Whether you agree or not with the decision to extradite Marc Emery to
the U.S. to face marijuana distribution charges, it must be recognized
that Emery knew what he was doing.

He didn't call himself the Prince of Pot for nothing, and the millions
he made selling marijuana seeds, particularly to American consumers,
make it clear that financial success can be achieved at all levels of
the business.

The guys who flog the hydroponic chemicals that promote growth in the
propagation of BC Bud, or who sell the grow lights have, along with
Emery, managed to amass small fortunes without needing to step into
the more dangerous side of the marijuana business.

But no matter how you describe their roles, they are all complicit.
Emery clearly understood that the end product of his sales was an
illegal substance, regardless of what purpose it was grown. We're not
talking Johnny Appleseed here.

Just like scrap dealers who are aware the coils of copper wire, the
brass plaques from community monuments and the aluminum railings they
buy are stolen. Yet they, like Emery and the grow products sellers,
protest their innocence because "they didn't know."

The mighty dollar is a great incentive to overlook the seedy side of
any business.

The Canadian justice and legal system is so tied into rights and
freedoms that few, if any, of these quasi-illegal, or downright
illegal, activities ever reach the courts, and even more rarely result
in meaningful convictions.

Perhaps that is why Emery has been thrown to the U.S. wolves, because
the chances of him being convicted here were slim. Even if he faced a
Canadian court, and was convicted, prison time received would probably
be spent supervising the jail's gardening activities.

Selling seeds, after all, isn't necessarily a crime, though you can be
sure Emery knew that his customers weren't looking for a great crop of
zucchinis, which from my own experience grow with an incredible zest.
In fact, if you could smoke zukes, I'd be a millionaire too because a
just handful of plants can generate enough product to supply a small
army.

The point, however, is that The Prince of Pot was aware that what he
was doing had illegal consequence, just as prominent British
Columbians knew in the early part of the last century that running
booze south of the line was against the law too. But they did it,
amassed fortunes and many became scions of society because of the
wealth they accumulated.

Their argument, or justification as I'm sure they put it, was that
prohibition was a religiously driven failure, and what was the harm in
people having a drink or two.

I'm guessing, from the widespread use of marijuana which has invaded
all levels of society, that eventually it will fall into the same
acceptance as alcohol.

But to eliminate the criminality that is pervasive today, particularly
on the Lower Mainland, its legalization must be throughout North America.

To have marijuana, and the grow-gurus like Marc Emery, as acceptable
as a martini will take an incredible change of philosophy in the
United States, and until that day the huge financial toll on its
repression will continue.

Never ending, however, will be the enormous human cost that cocaine,
heroin and other addictive and deadly narcotics inflict on society.

Because if pot seed sellers can get away with it, then the next "hero"
of the fight against drug prohibition will be the guy who is
"innocently" selling poppy seeds.