'PRINCE OF POT' EMERY UNDER FIRE FOR WEB COMMENTS

The Former Londoner Called Federal Justice Minister Irwin Cotler A
'Nazi-Jew.'

OTTAWA -- Marijuana crusader Marc Emery was under fire this week as
web-loggers scrutinize the content of his websites, including a
posting from his "jail blog" last summer that called federal Justice
Minister Irwin Cotler a "Nazi-Jew."

With the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration after him, the case of
B.C.'s "Prince of Pot" has become a cause celebre. Since his arrest a
month ago, Emery faces possible extradition to the United States for
selling marijuana seeds to U.S. customers.

Supporters of Emery, who calls himself "the leader of the marijuana
people around the world," include federal NDP Leader Jack Layton, who
has argued against the extradition.

Emery, 47, was serving a three-month sentence in Saskatoon last summer
for passing a joint at a marijuana rally when he wrote the "jail
blog," which he dictated to associates over the phone. It was then
posted on the Internet.

In it, he complained that Cotler went from being a human rights
advocate to a justice minister who, as attorney general, allows for
the prosecution of cannabis users.

"I thought the term Jewish-Nazi, or Nazi-Jew, was an oxymoron until
Cotler became the Injustice Minister," Emery's posting said. "What a
disgrace he is to his Jewish roots. He should -- so much -- know better."

In June, the content on Emery's main website (cannabisculture .com)
which he edits, publishes and uses to help sell millions of dollars
worth of marijuana seeds -- prompted NDP House leader Libby Davies to
write to one of Emery's employees, Chris Bennett.

"I have been extremely disturbed by the tone and characterization of
the Minister of Justice, Mr. Cotler, as a Nazi Jew and the Gestapo,"
wrote Davies.

She found "the anti-Semitic characterization of Mr. Cotler based on
his religious beliefs to be very offensive and completely
counterproductive."

Four days after Davies' letter was posted to the site, Emery -- temporarily
taking a view that the Nazi metaphor "disengages almost everyone" -- wrote
he had a better word for Cotler: "capo."

"If you're going to make comparisons," he advised, "the term for Irwin
Cotler might be 'capo.' These were the Jews during the Holocaust who
were fated to deliver their fellow Jews to their death . . ."

In this case, Cotler would deliver his fellow Canadians to his
American "masters," Emery suggests.