EXTRADITION HEARING DATE SET FOR POT ACTIVIST

VANCOUVER - Pot crusader Marc Emery said Thursday that all Canadians will
be complicit if the United States succeeds in having him extradited to face
drug charges in that country.

Emery, 47, made the comment after a B.C. Supreme Court judge set Sept. 16
as the date for the start of an extradition hearing that could net him life
in prison if he is convicted on marijuana charges in the U.S.

The longtime pot activist is accused of selling marijuana seeds to
Americans through the Internet and the mail, conspiracy to manufacture
marijuana and conspiracy to engage in money laundering.

Emery's co-accused, Michelle Rainey-Fenkarek and Gregory Keith Smith, were
also in court Thursday.

The three were arrested July 29 after Vancouver police raided Emery's pot
paraphernalia store following an 18-month investigation by the U.S. Drug
Enforcement Administration.

Emery, who showed up in court with his fiancee and a few supporters, called
the DEA "a Nazi-like military organization."

He said he has been selling his marijuana seeds for 11 years, during which
time Canadians have benefited from the $4 million he's given away to
various organizations.

Jack Layton, leader of the federal NDP, also reaped the rewards of his
popularity because Emery's Internet-based Pot-tv solicited support for the
party from viewers, Emery said.

"Everybody took the money, from the income tax departments representing the
province and the federal government," said Emery, leader of the B.C.
Marijuana party.

"I've never received a written complaint or a phone call in 11 years and I
h ave a listed phone number.

"So if I get taken away for the rest of my life to a United States prison
then every Canadian has let it happen because they have tacitly and
complicity condoned my behaviour."

He continued to vent against the DEA, calling it a well-armed beast.

"It's in the business of putting the marijuana culture away in prisons for
a long time. As the leader of the marijuana people around the world, they
have targeted me and when I go to the United States, if I am extradited,
you will never see me alive in Canada again."

Emery's supporters have asked Justice Minister Irwin Cotler to step in, but
he has said the matter is now before the courts.

"He is selling out an exemplary Canadian citizen to appease [the U.S.] war
on drugs," Emery said of Cotler.

Associate chief Justice Patrick Dohm granted a request from lawyer John
Conroy to have $15,000 of Rainey-Fenkarek's bail money returned so she
could retain her own lawyer. Conroy had asked Dohm to set a court date in
September so Emery could continue a speaking tour across Canada. While
selling marijuana seeds is also illegal in Canada, no one has been arrested
for years.

Emery, who last year spent three months in a Saskatoon jail for passing a
joint at a pot rally in 2004, said he doesn't regret selling pot seeds to
Americans and doesn't really fear spending life in prison. His worst fear
is that marijuana won't be legalized in his lifetime.

"That's the only fear," he said, adding that people in the marijuana
culture are peaceful and honest.

"We're total victims and to think that it would go on for longer than my
lifetime is just a horrifyingly sad thought."