LOCAL MAN CHARGING POT PRINCE MARC EMERY

In a complicated judicial scenario embroiling Canada's attorney
general and the U.S.led war on drugs, a Slocan Valley man is pressing
charges against B.C. marijuana advocate Marc Emery.

Acting as a private citizen, Winlaw's Paddy Roberts is charging Emery
with conspiracy to violate the U.S. criminal code by selling
marijuana seeds by mail across the border.

Emery, dubbed B.C's Prince of Pot, is facing extradition to the U.S.
on charges of conspiracy to launder money and distribute marijuana
and marijuana seeds. Conviction on the charges would carry a sentence
of at least 12 years. Two others are co-accused.

"The primary reason the charges are being brought is because I
believe all three people are guilty of the crimes they're being
charged with," says Roberts.

The second reason, Roberts says, is for matters of Canadian sovereignty.

"It appears the government of Canada is going to [allow] the
government of the United States to extend its law into this country,
and let it make legal attacks on Canadians."

By law, if Emery and his co-accused are tried in Canada on the same
charges, they can't be sent across the border to face them again in a
U.S. court. But Roberts says that isn't his motive.

"I'm happy those might be the circumstances," Roberts told the NDN
Thursday. "If it turns out that's true there'll be no one happier
than I."

Roberts is facing a major hurdle however. He says Canada's attorney
general is trying to quash his case, which would clear the way for
Emery's extradition, a move he and Emery's supporters insists is
politically motivated by America's want to clamp down on the Canadian
pot trade. Roberts believes the Americans are putting "enormous"
political pressures on Canada to give Emery up.

Roberts and his legal council, Nelson lawyer Don Skogstad, are slated
to be in Nelson's B.C. Supreme Court Monday arguing against the
attorney general's involvement in the case.

"My client feels that if these people have committed a crime in
Canada it should be dealt with in Canada," Skogstad told the NDN
earlier this week.

"That's not to say we're not going to prosecute [the trio]
enthusiastically and not ask for whatever sentences the case would
call for. It wouldn't be any easier on them."

If Robert's trial against Emery and. his two co-accused continues,
Skogstad would prosecute the trio. The local lawyer says 'the three
would face serious penalties if found guilty.

Late last year Ottawa decided not to proceed with drug charges
against Emery, staying three conspiracy charges filed against the
marijuana proponent by a private citizen to thwart the U.S.'s efforts
to extradite him.

David McCann filed charges last September, saying it would be
hypocritical of Canada to participate in U.S, officials' efforts to
prosecute Emery for activities condoned here for years. Emery says he
has made $15 million over the past decade selling marijuana seeds
online and by mail, along with equipment for growing operations and
instructions for raising pot plants. The Vancouver Sun has reported
there are least 40 Canadian companies that sell seeds and cuttings
via mail order. The RCMP's new Marijuana, Grow Operations Enforcement
Team shut down a Montreal-based seed-selling company earlier this
year. The companys operators are facing charges here in Canada.

"Why on earth are Montreal based seed sales any different from
Vancouver-based seed sales?" asked Marijuana Party lawyer Kirk
Tousaw. "In one case, the accused faced extradition to the U.S. and,
in the other, the prosecution will occur in Canada under Canadian laws."

Emery was arrested in July after police raided his pot paraphernalia
store, after an 18-month investigation by the U.S. Drug Enforcement
Administration. Earlier this month he appeared on the TV news
program. 60 Minutes. Interviewed by reporter Bob Simon, Emery likened
himself to Star Wars' hero Luke Skywalker and to Darth Vader.

For Roberts, this is not his first challenge of the Canadian justice
system.

In 2001 the 58-year-old was dragged into a B.C. RCMP investigation
centered on an accused marijuana smuggler from the Shuswap. Police
wrongfully alleged Roberts, a pilot, had been flying for the accused.
In his defense Roberts uncovered a number of bungles by the Mounties,
errors that resulted in an investigative report by The Fifth Estate,
called "B.C. Bud," one of the popular show's highest rated episodes.
In 2002, with similar charges laid by the U.S., Roberts was arrested
at the request of the DEA after a. flight from Ireland to Amsterdam.
He was jailed for 135 days before he was released on $25,000 Euros
bail. The charges were eventually stayed and Roberts acquitted.

"What happened to me and what's happening to Marc Emery happened
because of what we have to say in the political world in Canada,"
says Roberts. "We both have things to say that aren't popular with
people in power. They challenge power."

"To use phony extradition requests to bring people from Canada into
the United States, where there are horrific penalties, that's very
wrong in my view."

"And I'm here to fight against that," says Roberts. "And they know
I'm going to fight."