FREEDOM FRIES, DRUG CZAR LIES

Just say no to the US Drug War. Brace yourself Canada, annual $60 billion a
year US prison-filling drug war has taken its first step into Canada.

On July 29, 2005 The Drug Enforcement Agency of the United States had
Canadian law enforcement arrest Marc Emery and two associates to serve them
with an extradition order so they can be tried in the United States.

Marc Emery is the leader of the Marijuana Party of Canada, a successful
businessman and the leading cannabis activist in Canada. Marc has a
thriving business of selling cannabis seeds online and over the counter in
his shop in Vancouver.

In the last ten years he has paid over $600,000 in taxes to the provincial
and federal governments declaring on his income tax form "marijuana seed
vendor". Health Canada has even sent him customers to buy seeds to grow
medication and does not get bothered by the police. The community accepts
him and he has the backing of NDP leader Jack Layton as well as many other
politicians.

Marc has made millions of dollars and yet he only owns the shirt on his
back. The $3 million a year he is reported to make goes right back into his
belief in freedom for the people. So why would our Canadian government
consider extraditing a Canadian citizen that is not considered a criminal
to a country where he could face a life prison or even the death sentence?

Let's make our politicians and law enforcement understand we the people
will not tolerate it. We want to be free and we don't want more prisons.
The US drug war has proven itself to be a horrendous failure, as the budget
increases each year so does the drug problem. The US has more prisoners per
capita than any other country in the world, seven times more per capita
than Canada. This is in large part due to the drug war, a staggering number
of the prisoners are there for marijuana offences.

Prohibition has created a huge high priced black market for a weed that
could otherwise be grown anywhere by anyone for free. Ever since that
ill-fated day in 1971, when Richard Nixon declared a war on drugs, the US
has built and filled jails at a criminally insane pace. Most marijuana
smokers are law-abiding family orientated people and putting them in jail
for smoking a harmless herb is wrong.

Reefer madness is irresponsible and destructive. Children need their
parents at home. Marijuana is not dangerous and is no more a stepping stone
to hard drug use than breastfeeding is to alcoholism. Cannabis is the most
useful plant on earth; it can be used as food, in fibre, paper, fuel,
medicine and recreation. Holland is a country famous for its tolerance on
drugs and has less drug use among the young than the US.

Truth and education is far more effective than lies, fear and propaganda.
The money wasted on law enforcement and incarceration could be better spent
on healthcare, education and treatment centres to help the unfortunate few
who do slip through the cracks and wind up on hard drugs.

Please write to our justice minister Irwin Cotler at Parliamentary Office
312, West Block, Ottawa, ON, K1A 0A6. No stamp is required to tell him what
you think.

September 10th is designated as a day of international protest. In Toronto,
it will be held at the US consulate at 360 University Avenue at 3pm. Tell
your friends this is an important day for Canadian freedom.