BACK OFF OF OUR JURISDICTION

Canadian Pot Laws And The Marc Emery Case

If you're living in Vancouver, it's virtually impossible not to come
into contact with pot. The Folk Fest, the beach during fireworks, the
beach anytime, your local idyllic park, your local high school, not
to mention the places in this city where the drug can be easily
bought over the counter--pot is plentiful and easily accessible if
you have the money and the rollies. This is in part why news of Marc
Emery's arrest and speculation regarding his current legal status has
stirred up such an interest here.

What? A Canadian citizen being extradited to the US to be tried under
US law with the same severity as a heroin dealer? But it isn't just
the extremity of the measures being proposed that should offer cause
for concern, but also the dangerous precedent that the Emery case may
set for the cross-border legal relations, highlighting the serious
discrepancy in US and Canadian approaches towards the "War on Drugs"
between the US and Canada.

In 1994 Emery arrived in BC and opened up a store named Hemp BC which
substantially aided the transformation of BC's marijuana culture from
an underground industry to a multi-billion dollar fixture of the
provincial economy. After the police raided Emery's store in 1998, he
altered his course and began selling marijuana seeds via a mail order
business that he has been openly operating under his own name for
about five years now. During that time, his business expanded into
the US. In an effort to further broaden his career, Emery, who had
been involved with the Marijuana party of Canada, founded the
Marijuana party of BC.

Unfortunately for Emery, his operations came to the attention of the
United States Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA), upon whose
request the RCMP raided the BC Marijuana Party's bookstore and
headquarters in Vancouver and found... guess what? Pot! Lots and lots
of pot. At this time Emery was in Halifax attending HempFest. Nova
Scotian authorities arrested Emery on an indictment by a secret US
Federal Grand Jury in Washington State. The US charged Emery with
money laundering and conspiracy to manufacture and distribute
marijuana seeds. Canada has not laid any charges against Emery.

According to US law, Emery could face life in prison if convicted.
His minimum sentence under US law would be ten years in a US federal
prison. Obviously this is a far cry from the punishment he would
suffer under Canadian law--the law of the country in which he lives,
has operated his business (with the words "Marijuana" and "Emery" in
the name) for five years and enjoys all the other rights of Canadian
citizenship.

After posting bail ($50,000) Emery is preparing to fight his
extradition and weighing his legal options. Some believe that the
charges against him are politically motivated. Note that the
potential sentence--life in prison--could be deemed cruel and unusual
punishment under Canadian sentencing guidelines. While conspiracy to
distribute marijuana seeds is still a criminal offense under Canadian
law, in actual practice Canadian authorities generally do not
prosecute the selling of marijuana seeds with the same vigilance as
US authorities. According to a recent story in The Globe and Mail,
Canada has not prosecuted a case for the selling of marijuana seeds in decades.

Now the question is whether Canada should extradite Emery to the US
and let him be subjected to their comparatively Draconian legal
penalties. In Canada--in both the theory and practice of our
law--Emery's crime isn't considered worthy of such severe punishment.
Why are we considering giving up one of our own citizens to a
punishment we would not and do not practice on our own soil? This is
not only a case of protecting Emery from a minimum of ten years in
prison, but of taking ownership of our own policies towards pot. In
the US, sellers of marijuana seeds are prosecuted with the same
severity as sellers of hard drugs such as heroin. Here in Canada we
recognise the difference. We shouldn't let one of our citizens suffer
under a less enlightened law.

Under the Canada-US Extradition Treaty of 1976, Canada can protect
Emery in our country on the grounds that his punishment in the
pursuant country, the US, would be unreasonably harsh. As Canadian
courts have not prosecuted against selling marijuana seeds since
1968, this case should be used as an opportunity for Canada to stand
up to the US and hold firm on its own legal practices. There is a
certain moral responsibility in standing up to unjust laws, and this
is one of those cases.