Jodie Emery, Globe and Mail
My husband, Marc Emery, is a Canadian who never went to the United States and never grew or sold marijuana ( ‘Prince Of Pot’ Sentenced To Five Years In Prison – May 25 ). He sold only cannabis seeds for more than a decade, paid taxes on all income and used the profits to fund political activism.
The U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration’s press release about Marc’s 2005 arrest bragged that it was "a significant blow . to the marijuana legalization movement" because "hundreds of thousands of dollars of Emery’ . profits are known to have been channelled to marijuana legalization groups active in the United States and Canada." It’s all about politics, not about pot.
In 2008, American authorities offered a plea deal that would allow Marc to serve his time in Canada if he was charged here, but the Conservative government refused.
If Marc broke the law in Canada, he should be tried and sentenced in Canada, not sent to a foreign country to be punished under much harsher laws.
Jodie Emery, Vancouver