B.C.'s 'PRINCE OF POT' JAILED FOR FIVE YEARS BY U.S. JUDGE

Vancouver's "Prince of Pot," Marc Emery, was sentenced to five years
in prison by a U.S. federal court on Friday.

It was the sentence Emery and his wife Jodie had been looking for
since his guilty plea in late May to conspiracy to manufacture marijuana.

"We feel that we'll probably get the sentence we were expecting,"
Jodie Emery had told a rally of about 30 supporters outside the
Seattle courthouse.

The crowd waved signs reading "Free Marc" and chanted their support as
passing cars honked their horns.

Emery was arrested in 2005 by the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration
and indicted for selling marijuana seeds online and through the mail
to customers in the U.S.

On his website, Emery claims to have made $3 million a year selling
seeds, and to have sold more than four million seeds over the years.

"Jail is a cruel and lonely place and I regret that my actions have
brought me here," Emery said in a written statement to Judge Ricardo
Martinez. "Five years is an awfully long time to consider what I've
done. I admit that I was arrogant in flouting United States law.

"My great life's goal for 20 years now, your Honour, has been a
burning passion to end what I consider a terrible injustice that has
seen over 10 million U.S. citizens and 1.5 million Canadian citizens
brutally and unjustly punished under the marijuana prohibition laws of
our two countries.

"As a Canadian who did all my activity in Canada and used over $4
million in proceeds directed to peaceful, legal and democratic
activities in both our countries, I felt almost any honest,
transparent and peaceful activity towards repealing these prohibition
laws was legitimate."

After Emery was sentenced, Jodie said, "He's very calm and ready to
accept responsibility for what's going to happen because he always
said he'd go down as a martyr to represent all the others who are
imprisoned unjustly."

Now that he has been sentenced, Emery can apply for transfer to a
Canadian prison for the remainder of his sentence. Public Safety
Minister Vic Toews would decide if Emery is allowed to come back to
Canada.

Jodie said her husband, the leader of the B.C. Marijuana Party, has
been active in politics since he was 17.