The Long, Authoritarian Arm of American Drug Law

Some lousy news from up north:

After two decades as Canada's Prince of Pot, Marc Emery will surrender himself today in B.C. Supreme Court and become the country's first Marijuana Martyr.

Emery will begin serving what could be as long as five years behind bars as Uncle Sam's prisoner for a crime that in Canada would have earned him at most a month in the local hoosegow. […]

Emery hasn't even visited America but he was arrested in July 2005 at the request of a Republican administration that abhorred his politics.

More outrage here; link via Kent Cowan. Reason has been covering Emery's case for years.

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Comments

[John]

I guess it is too much to ask for Hollywood to get in a lather over this poor guy. They are too busy trying to save pedifiliac ass rapers.

[R C Dean]

Glad to see the Obama administration is changing course on this obnoxious Bush-era legal adventurism. Hope and Change!

[Kool]

Do your selves a favor and don't bother reading the comments section over there.

I'll sum it up for you:

Drugs are illegal
Drugs are bad mmm'kay
something pro-Emery
he deserves to be in jail
blah, blah

Evidently, thought is teh hard.

[Libertymike]

John and R C-

If he were to flee, say to France, after having plead guilty, then gets arrested in switzerland, what would you say?

[SpongePaul]

Just Rem, He broke ZERO laws in AMerica. It is the Purchersers responsabiltiy to ensure what he is buying is legal, it is not up to the seller. It was his politics the DEA hated, so they indicted him, ANd Canada rolled over like a scared puppy. Heck Health Canada tells people to contact emery for seed, grow questions!

[John]

Libertymike,

Since he broke a law that shouldn't be a law and never broke the law in this country anyway, i would say it was bullshit.

[R C Dean]

If he were to flee, say to France, after having plead guilty, then gets arrested in switzerland, what would you say?

My Rule of Law side says he pled, he should do the time.

My Justice side says he didn't hurt anyone and didn't do anything that the US really has jurisdiction over, so he shouldn't have to do any time (unlike Mr. Polanski).

So I'm conflicted, but at the end of the day Justice should prevail over the Rule of Law. Law without Justice is tyranny, after all.

[jtuf]

It is time to end the drug war.

[BakedPenguin]

This just proves that Canada really is our 51st state. For once, I'm pissed instead of laughing about it.

[Jaybird]

Didn't they have the political cover to say "Obama has the current administration now, we no longer have to kowtow to Bushitler"?

If not, why not?

[Jaybird]

(Note, it is not *MY* opinion that "Bushitler" is a fair name, it's merely my opinion that Canada, especially BC, would see it as such in this particular case.)

[Dagny T.]

Well, shit. Fuck the Canadian and US governments. Especially the Canadian government. But especially the US government.

[IceTrey]

Go to Freekeene.com. The residents in Keene N.H have been smoking pot in the public park at 4:20 for the last four days and only two arrests.

[Joshua Corning]

To be fair Marc is getting off way better then Pablo Escabar did and for doing essentially the same thing.

[D. Greene]

"To be fair Marc is getting off way better then Pablo Escabar (sic) did and for doing essentially the same thing."

Truly incredible. Are you joking? You must be joking. Escobar murdered entire families and controlled the world's largest coke smuggling cartel, he was a brutal gangster and a vicious murderer as well. He is the Al Capone of our age, a product of the drug war. Emery was selling, wait for it pot seeds. Fucking seeds. For a pot plant. Essentially, these are two utterly different men.

D.Greene
Same crime hippie

[J sub D]

I really thought Obama would be better than Bush regarding The War on Drugs Liberty.

I admit it, I was wrong.

[Some Guy]

Wait, so we can get Canada to arrest people for doing things that aren't even illegal in Canada?

[D. Greene]

"Same crime hippie"

yes, murder = pot seeds, you got me.

[J sub D]

If he were to flee, say to France, after having plead guilty, then gets arrested in switzerland, what would you say?

I'd say it's exactly like the Polanski case.

Except for the drugging and ass raping of innocent girls and the fact that this guy wasn't even in the the US when the "crime" was committed. But other than those minor quibbles, yep it's the same thing.

[guy in the back row]

Does this mean when US tourist are sold pot in Amsterdam coffee houses the owners are liable for prosecution as dealers?

[EscapedWestOfTheBigMuddy]

Does this mean when US tourist are sold pot in Amsterdam coffee houses the owners are liable for prosecution as dealers?

If said owners are giving the Drug Warriors a beating in the court of public opinion, then it will suddenly become so.

[James Anderson Merritt]

Tommy Chong went into the federal pen and came out with a lot of street cred (as I predicted). Steve Kubby gave himself up to California justice and came out with a lot of street cred (as I predicted). The same will happen to Emery unless an accident befalls him in prison. Why does Uncle Sam give martyrs the opportunity to gain more street cred? This astoundingly self-defeating behavior gives me hope that the insane Drug War is not long for this world. On the other hand, I have predicted the imminent demise of the drug war for some time and have been WRONG, WRONG, WRONG.

[Steve]

What is the problem, he broke the law, he has to do the time. If you don't like the law, and I don't, then work to have it changed, but as long as it is on the books it has to be enforced. The law's the law.

[Libertymike]

Steve-

What is your problem? Like the law is some kind of sacred object to be observed above all else?

I guess you must be one of those sheeple that jerks off to legal positivism.

[R C Dean]

The law's the law.

Well, as long as we are spouting slogans, try this one on for size:

Law without justice is tyranny.

You may proceed to Godwinize this thread at your leisure.

[Hmm]

The only crime he should be charged with is PRICE GOUGING! But hey who it to say who should spend what with their money. After all people shop at Whole Foods as well for their "organic" King Crab Legs at $30 a lb when you can get them at Albertsons for $13. I guess they must be chemical altered farm raised KING CRABS, right!

[wylie]

I guess they must be chemical altered farm raised KING CRABS, right!

*obligatory Crab People reference*

"Looks like crab tastes like people..."

[[e-mail]]

"It is time to end the drug war." Jeeze, ya think??? Actually, the drug war is working just exactly as it is intended to work. The drug war industry is humming along like a fine tuned Swiss watch. Anybody who thinks the drug war has anything at all to do with curtailing the use of proscribed substances is an idiot. All the arguments about whether or not this drug or that drug is harmful or helpful or addictive or not are not merely irrelevant, they are part of the charade that the drug war has anything at all to do with drugs.

[Steven]

All the arguments about whether or not this drug or that drug is harmful or helpful or addictive or not are not merely irrelevant, they are part of the charade that the drug war has anything at all to do with drugs.

No, it is about protecting us from dangerous drugs, it is just a mistake that marijuana is considered 'dangerous'. It should be legal, but until it is not against the law, like any other law on the books, it should be vigorously enforced.

[R C Dean]

No, it is about protecting us from dangerous drugs,

What are these drugs that roam the street in packs, attacking innocent bystanders, defacing our property, and despoiling our women?

The only drugs I've seen can be easily controlled with nothing more than a zip-loc baggie, so I don't see how anyone could call them dangerous.