CANADA SHIRKS ITS DUTY IN PRINCE OF POT CASE

If all goes as planned, Marc Emery will soon begin serving a
five-year prison sentence in Canada, thanks to a deal with United
States prosecutors on charges of selling marijuana seeds and money laundering.

If the deal goes through, Emery will avoid being extradited to the
U.S. to face trial there, where he would face a minimum 10-year
sentence, and a maximum of life in prison if convicted.

The deal seems a good one for Vancouver's self-styled Prince of Pot.
Yet it shouldn't have been necessary, since Emery should never have
faced extradition to the U.S.

The Treaty on Extradition Between Canada and the United States and
Canada's Extradition Act require that two conditions be met before
people in Canada can be sent to the U.S.

First, the offence with which they are charged in the U.S. must also
be an offence in Canada, and second, they must not have been charged
in Canada with the offence.

In Emery's case, the first condition appears to be met: Under the
Criminal Code, selling marijuana seeds (and money laundering) are
offences. This was affirmed by the B.C. Court of Appeal in R. v.
Hunter in 2000. In fact, Emery himself was convicted of selling seeds in 1998.

Yet appearances can be deceiving. Since his conviction in 1998, Emery
has brazenly continued selling seeds, yet police have done nothing
about it. Nor have they tried to stop other seed dealers.

The police can hardly be blamed for their inaction, though, since the
Canadian government has signalled that it doesn't consider Emery's
actions illegal. After all, the feds were directing medical marijuana
users to Emery's website until 2003.

Regardless of what the courts or the Criminal Code say, then, the
government has de facto legalized the sale of marijuana seeds, and
the first condition for extradition has not been met.

However, if we ignore the government's behaviour and rely on the
courts and the Criminal Code, then the first condition has been met.
We must then consider the second, which has also been met, since
Emery has not been charged in Canada. But this raises the question: Why not?

Had he been charged, the second condition would not have been met,
and he would not have faced extradition. Hence the reason Emery is
facing a five-year prison sentence -- with no parole eligibility,
which makes it the equivalent of a 15-year sentence -- is not because
the U.S. is enforcing the law, but because Canada refuses to.

This is an unacceptable situation. It's time for Canadian authorities
to accept their responsibility by either enforcing the laws on the
books or removing them altogether.