Prison for Prince of Pot

Yesterday, as expected, Canadian cannabis activist Marc Emery, who was arrested in 2005 for selling marijuana seeds to Americans via the Internet, was transported from a Vancouver jail to a federal detention center near Seattle. After he appears before a judge, the self-anointed Prince of Pot will begin serving a five-year prison term, a much harsher penalty than he would have received in Canada, where many vendors openly sell marijuana seeds with little or no legal trouble. CBC News reports that Emery, who seems to have been targeted by American drug warriors for political reasons, "is expecting to return to Canada to serve his sentence."

More on Emery here and here.

[Thanks to Kent Cowan for the tip.]

Comments

[Awesome]

just another example of the state thinking ahead and balancing interests.

[Astrid]

Sometimes it's for our best that the government tells us no.

[Astrid]

Should be:
Sometimes it's for our own best interests that the government tells us no.

[People Power Hour]

Uh, no. It's really not. Just to clarify for any impressionable kiddies who might be lurking here and thinking you're serious....

[Edwin]

marijuana seeds are delicious. They're called "shahdoonay" in Persian. Had them once, didn't know where my Uncle bought them and can't seem to find them.

[Episiarch]

They make you sterile dude!!! This dude I smoked weed with in college said so, so it must be true!

[Awesome]

shhh, don't tell him.

[Hyperion]

You're confused dude. What he said, as he was stoned, was, there is this little guy in Iran that sits in a room and sterilizes pot seeds one at a time with a needle, so that they can be eaten on Persian salads without the risk of someone getting tempted to pick them out and try to grow the devils weed with them.

[PicassoIII]

Um, no.
A little one on the way is proof enough.

[Steff]

Can't possibly have a Canadian dude selling those, no. We have to protect the interests of Mexican drug cartels, instead. /sarcasm

Man, I love Reason, but WHY ARE YOU FUCKERS MAKING ME SO ANGRY BEFORE MY VACATION?!?!

[Clich? Bandit]

Yeah Jacob stepiin on balko turf...and on friday too.

[Warren]

The WOD is Sullum's beat. Balko is more irresponsible policing. There is considerable overlap.

[BakedPenguin]

This is why I say while Balko's typically the one who gets posters here riled up, it's the Sullum columns that cause me to reach for my beta blockers and valium.

Note to DEA/LEOs: both legally prescribed, so get fucked.

[CatoTheElder]

Your tax dollars at work.

[?]

But the good news is the babe's giving away brandy.

[joshua corning]

CBC News reports that Emery, who seems to have been targeted by American drug warriors for political reasons, "is expecting to return to Canada to serve his sentence.

So how do we get him before a parole board so they can declare "time served" and release him?

[Douglas Gray]

It is so reassuring to see our law enforcement officials and judges working so diligently to incarcerate such dangerous and evil people.

I recently read a great piece about how weed is being used to treat acute alchoholism. It apparently can help a lot in some cases.

[James Anderson Merritt]

The picture included with this article reminds me of "The Stork" in Animal House, he of "We all thought the Stork was brain damaged" fame.

No offense meant to Mr. Emery, who, I believe, is getting a raw deal from both the US and Canada. I am still straining my brain to understand how the Canadians can possibly extradite this guy to serve a sentence that is more severe than the one that their own justice system would have imposed. Unless Emery has an "accident" in prison, do the authorities not realize he -- like Tommy Chong and even Steve Kubby -- will emerge with more street cred than he had going in? Why would the authorities want to give their "enemy" more power? Welcome to the Drug War; check your intellect at the door, you won't need it inside.

[Dagny T.]

Well, fuck.

The border crossing they drove Emery to is one where more than a few people I know have been denied for nonviolent drug offenses on their records. I guess the key to a guaranteed border crossing is to be handed over in chains.

[mad libertarian guy]

Taws an emotionally charged day in Vancouver when he was arrested. Big pot rally, money being raised for his defense (to which I contributed a brand spankin' new US $20), the whole 9 yards. I have pics on my site from the pot rally that occurred when he was arrested. You can check them out at http://www.madlibertarianguy.n...../a-sad-day along with a quick story from that day.

[Duckworth Lewis]

He hasn't been the Prince of Pot since about 1999 but whatever a real shame especially considering what an open legal market there is now in California, Colorado, Rhode Island, etc.

[Kent]

Mad guy, I gave him a spanking new $200 cheque (might have been $20US at the time). BTW, Marc isn't a self-anointed Prince of Pot, he was given that title by, I believe, CNN many years ago.

Hoping the judge with throw the entire charge out, but fat chance of that. I remember when Marc was the "go to" person in the Canadian libertarian movement in the early 80s. He's made a lot of difference in this country (getting rid of laws against Sunday shopping, fighting government censorship including a ban on anything promoting the legalization of marijuana, the list goes on...any libertarian would be proud of his list of accomplishments).

I'll do my part.

[mad libertarian guy]

The new $20 bill was as much political statement as it was monetary donation, and was all the cash I had.

[Ken Shultz]

If I were Canadian, I think I would be thoroughly horrified that he was extradited.

I'm wondering how we would feel if some American were extradited to Canada for doing something that isn't uniformly prosecuted in the United States.

...from within the United States?

I'd be ticked.

[BakedPenguin]

Can you imagine if an American was extradited for violating Canadian speech laws?

[cynical]

Why yes, yes I can.

[Nipplemancer]

I'd drop a nuke on Saskatchewan or whatever the fuck the capitol of that fucked up little country to our south is.

[Ken Shultz]

What makes them so fucked up?

The nationalized healthcare?!

Is that a difference anymore? Hello?!

They apparently don't bust people for selling seeds up there! ...out in the open.

And at least the heads of both their major parties didn't take turns stickin' them with a bill for $350 billion each to bail out Wall Street investors.

...and if the Tea Party ever polls as big as the Wildrose Alliance, they'll be damn lucky.

[Isaac Bartram]

Having lived there, I'm not sure if anyone would notice if you dropped a nuke on Saskatchewan.

[Kent]

Canadians should actually put the pressure on the RCMP to actually do this. There's shouldn't be a shortage of candidates to be extradited to Canada. Fact is, Canadians won't. We don't own the US, but the US owns Canada.

[Isaac Bartram]

Most extradition treaties only allow for extradition for offenses that are crimes in the sending (for want of a better word) country.

Since there are no comparative offense to Canada's (oddly named) Human Rights codes no extradition could be made.

No extradition would be possible in this case if it weren't for the fact that selling seeds is a crime in Canada, though Canada would be well within its rights to refuse extradition on the grounds that the US punishment is excessive.

But, in the end, I suspect that the real reason for this extradition is that north of Steeles Avenue (Toronto city limits) and east of the city limits of Vancouver attitudes towards drug use are not nearly so liberal as some Canadians and even some Americans would like us to believe.

They certainly weren't in the seventies, and my ex-wife reports that cops in her city (not Montreal, Toronto or Vancouver, but still a big and well known one) were still happily conducting pot busts well into the oughts.

[Warren]

Under the terms of the deal, Emery is expecting to return to Canada to serve his sentence, according to his legal team.

This is a very important point. Canadian prisons aren't like American rape factories.

[Byron]

More important - it's still a fucking prison.

[Andy_D]

Nothing is more important than avoiding prison rape.

[Isaac Bartram]

Canadian prisons aren't like American rape factories.

Actually, they are. Prison rape is pretty much a standard fixture of prisons everywhere.

It was certainly a problem in Canadian prisons, which, incidentally were pretty awful places*, when I lived the in the seventies, being regularly commented on in the media.

I hardly think that the incidence would have diminished since then.

*conditions in Canadian prison have improved since the older ones were replaced by shiny new ones. But conditions at Collin's Bay were awful in the sixties and seventies.

[Surly Chef]

I believe in Canada they write strongly worded letters with some profanity instead of raping each other. Usually about hockey.

[Surly Chef]

I meant to say Canadian prisons.

[Gene Berkman]

I guess they think this makes up for not finding Bin Laden.

The US government is run by idiots, eh!

[The Bearded Hobbit]

But Obama was going to be so much better on drug policy!

A sad day for liberty.

... Hobbit

[Hyperion]

You see, the problem is, liberals believe in personal freedoms until they learn that others may have the same freedoms. This disturbs their control freak brains to the extent that they then decide that they would rather give up personal freedoms themselves in lieu of allowing others the same privilege.

[andy t. Jesus 1]

Thank you us and prolife christian libert. Marc apple tree. Huh? Sativa can be identified and is lower thc than others. Alcohol majorly damages and disorients. At pharmacys you have to sign your name for needles. Thc is not that harmful unless seriuosly abused. Addiction can happen. But high thc causes euphoria not just numb. I am not legal cigs. A writer at high times mag returned emailed me about how he thought that eating marijuana could causes overdose and i disagree with him.He still promoted indica and smoking. Notice scientist know thc is safer than others.Alcohol content is limited by gov! And unsafe.States should have a right.Fund helping poor.Prosecute sex abusers and trafficers! Thanks rom 12:2kjvz. rom 3:23 kjvz and forgiveness. Col 3:11 kjvz. A new genetics, a new person!

[db]

Oh shit I think Skynet just woke up.

[Kate]

Time to man up, pot boy.

[BakedPenguin]

Yeah, how dare he sell seeds for a plant! He should get more time than someone convicted of sexual battery or grand larceny! He can join the 200,000 other people who haven't violated the right of others, but have been in possession of drugs who are costing us $25,000 a year each to be in prison.

Time to re-think your fucked-up values, Katie. The rapist they release to make room for him might find his way to your neighborhood. Let's see how happy you are with Emery's imprisonment then.

[Kent]

Wrong forum Kate, you can find yours here:

http://www.nsm88.org/

[zoltan]

You dumb Canadian cunt.

[Curious]

Keep him...please.

[North of 49]

heh heh. He's as tone deaf as 'Truth' below.

[People Power Hour]

Thank Jebus we have sanctamonious, ignorant, blowhard scumbags of politicians here to protect us from this evil madman!

[Truth]

Its sad to see just how illinformed most of you really are. If you honestly think alcohol is safer for you then you must live in a very diminutive cocoon. From automobile accidents to domestic violence ALCOHOL is the primary catalyst for some of mans darkest deeds. Im willing to bet that most of you have an alcoholic in the family or know someone who does, Look at them and deny that it tears families apart.

P.S. The only way that happens with cannibus is when the goverment and police decide that your a crimminal and a threat to society and in turn the commit atrocities through there "DRUG WAR".

I THINK SOMEONE SHOULD BE HELD ACCOUNTABLE FOR WAR CRIMES!

[Isaac Bartram]

New here, eh?

I'd suggest you just STFU and read for a while to find out what this forum is about before you embarass yourself further.

TOW THE LION!!!!!

[Ford Prefect]

Why send him back to Canada to serve his time, like we want to pay for it. If he is really sent back we should just let him out. That or bill them with a 100% surcharge.

[PR]

are the trying to raise Shrutebucks for the legal defense fund?

[Greg V.]

Marijuana seeds? Screw the fence on the Mexican border! Move that sucker up north!

[Kent]

Sounds like a good idea Greg. We'll need it to stop all the illegals yearning to breathe free in Canada.

[Pete]

Pot prices have fallen sharply in California due to legal medical marijuana sales and lax enforcement on local growers. Mexican drug cartels are taking a big hit (no pun intended), which is a good thing. Cheap seeds on the internet are a different story - as US marijuana laws become more lenient, the projected business plan for Monsanto would be affected. The Monsanto seed cartel will not allow this.

[jeff fitzhugh]

Pot seeds are good to eat. Were they hemp seeds? Hemp you can't get high on. Hemp farmed would solve our wood problem. In fact you would only have to harvest wood if you needed it for lumber, but for paper hemp would fill the void and it's better than wood.

[Kent]

Hemp is legally grown and you can find all kinds of hemp food in grocery stores in Canada. The seeds Marc was selling will grown into nice plants that will get you stoned. The horror.

[KimAnne]

What a waste of tax dollar money!

[Lunchbucket Larry]

What an incredible waste of money this "war on drugs" is. Particularly with marijuana. The worst thing that's going to happen to anyone who smokes pot is that go to sleep, or eat up all the food.

[wtf]

what the fuck is wrong with some of you? you get on the internet and just because you're behind a veil of anonymity, you think you're being funny but you come off as TOTAL JACKASSES.

I just find it sad that this country decided to take the weak way out by letting emery be extradited for something that shouldn't be a crime in the first place. if the US wasn't spending so much on this ridiculous face they call a 'drug war', which is a war on the poor by the way, it would be free to tackle the REAL criminals AND have the room to incarcerate them.

but no, they have to put people away that never harmed anyone in their lives because of the absolute misconceptions they have about the cannabis plant.

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