Potted Prince
The MainstreamMedia has picked up on a nickname for Marc Emery, the “Prince of Pot†described as such literally on the search warrant, as he was recently arrested while visiting back east along with having his store and two associates in Vancouver picked up by balaclava clad undercover officers. He faces charges of conspiracy to manufacture marijuana, conspiracy to distribute seeds and conspiracy to engage in money laundering. Today, about 200 protesters showed up at the shop, among the comments to the television news staff attending the scene: “I’m an American, and I just wanted to visit our latest colony and see if all our Canadian slaves are behaving in a properly respectful way, because that’s really what happened yesterday—the Canadian police became a branch of the DEA (Drug Enforcement Agency).â€
imho, Canadians are still a bit more interested in politics than those down south, maybe why they give some ink to Simon Fraser’s Neil Boyd who correctly thinks the case raised some sovereignty questions. “I think you have to put aside Mr. Emery and his politics and look at the bigger issue, which is, to what extent should Canada alter its priorities and resources with respects to policing cannabis?†he told CTV News Vancouver.
There seems to be some pure humanitarian issues at stake here too. If he is extradited to the US he will face iirc, 10 years to life in prison on the manufacturing charge alone, whereas in British Columbia, the province he was arrested in, judges in certain cases have reduced two year sentences for cultivation as “too harshâ€. Canadian prisoners in the United States on drug offenses are often repatriated to Canada, where they are quickly released because of more lenient drug sentences north of the border, but clearly extradition and making an example is the goal of the DEA in this case. Indeed, “To what extent should we extradite people to face penalties that are substantially more than we would impose?â€, given the current mood and attitudes in this Province towards pot.
Although the US likes to have people extradited to their own country when politically convenient, sometimes when people commit crimes in other countries it’s a differently story according to an article in the BBC.