Free Marc Emery

CANNABIS CULTURE – For the latest news on Marc Emery, CCHQ, and Canada’s cannabis community, watch new episodes of The Jodie Emery Show each week on Cannabis Culture.

 

Princes of Pot Jodie Emery, the CEO of Cannabis Culture Headquarters and wife of marijuana activist Marc Emery, has started a new weekly show to bring you the latest from the word of Cannabis Culture.

 

By DHARM MAKWANA, Toronto Sun

 

VANCOUVER – A pollster’s error has convicted marijuana advocate Marc Emery in the court of public opinion, his wife Jodie claimed Monday.

 

Angus Reid Public Opinion released the incorrect findings of an omnibus poll on Canadian attitudes towards drugs, which included questions on if Marc Emery’s five-year prison sentence was too harsh or too lenient, and whether respondents agreed or disagreed with the federal government’s decision to extradite him to the U.S. to serve his time.

 

Jodie Emery said the wording of questions published by Angus Reid misrepresented his offence of mailing marijuana seeds to customers across the U.S. border.

 

"(The question is) absolutely untrue and it skewed the results because most people would support the extradition of someone who sold marijuana," she told QMI Agency. "The issue is seeds.

 

"The government is considering whether it should transfer Marc home or not, and in order to do that they’re going to try and gauge public support."

 

Angus Reid vice-president of communications Mario Canseco explained an automatic generator for statistical tables piped in the wrong questions and wrong results in the published document posted to the website.

 

The eight-page post was pulled hours later and a replacement omitted any mention of Emery.

 

"It’s the wrong question, it’s the wrong table. It never should have been there. We’re going to release the right questions (Tuesday) with the answers and the right definition on what he plead guilty to."

 

 

 

By Jodie Emery, Cannabis Culture

 

There have been two recent updates in Marc’s situation. He’s been moved to a new unit in SeaTac FDC in preparation for his transfer to an FCI (US Federal Correctional Institution) because SeaTac FDC is for pre-trial inmates and Marc has been sentenced. He will be shipped out soon, but we don’t know when. However, we do finally know where he’ll be: Taft FCI in California.

 

Marc said he expected Taft even though he wanted Lompoc (also in California), because Lompoc has “Corrlinks” email messaging, and we both depend on that so much for constant communication all day, every day. But once he’s at Taft, where they don’t have Corrlinks, Marc and I will only get one 10-minute phone call a day, and our visits twice a month. We’re still so grateful for the relative closeness, though, because Texas or Mississippi or Georgia, or any of the other options, are much further away.

 

The other positive aspects are that he’ll be in a Low Security section, which means he will be able to go outside and get sun and fresh air! He’ll also have better selection from commissary, because there are vegetables on the list that he can buy and eat. Taft FCI is a privately-run prison, so the regular daily meals are very poor, but with commissary Marc will be able to have some healthy food. He’s very excited for the prospect of sunlight, fresh air, and fresh food – what precious simple things we all take for granted.

 

Once Marc arrives at Taft, he’ll be able to submit his application to the US Department of Justice asking for transfer to Canada. The United States and Canada have an agreement called the International Transfer of Offenders Act, and it requires that prisoners be allowed to serve their time at home if approved by the governments of both countries as not being a threat to national security. Canadian citizens also have a Charter of Rights and Freedoms right to come home, under Section 6: Mobility, which allowed Canadian citizens the ability to leave, return to, and stay in Canada.

 

The US has been approving Canadian prisoner requests as usual, but since 2006 when the Conservative government was elected in Canada, the Conservative Public Safety Ministers have been delaying and rejecting transfer requests. The US recently admonished Canada for failing to hold up their end of the treaty agreement, and even more recently, the federal court in Canada said the Conservatives erred in not bringing back Canadian drug offenders in US prison. So those were both good news!

 

Marc’s application to the Public Safety Minister was submitted the same day he was sentenced, September 10th. He received confirmation that the Public Safety Minister does have the paperwork, and he can approve it at any time. Please call and write to ask him to approve! For those who are at a loss about what to say, here is a letter you can send if you’re unable to write your own. There’s no postage required in Canada!

 

The US application process is more complicated, and for that reason we need to hire a specialist lawyer who takes care of Canadian prisoner transfer requests. She’s highly recommended and gets the job done, but her bill is going to be $8,500 – so we’re doing a Free Marc Emery Fundraiser with a one-day mega-drive moneybomb to help hire this lawyer and get Marc home to Canada!

 

Saturday, October 19th is the day we’ve chosen, and it has some special significance: when Marc was imprisoned for 2 months for passing a joint in Saskatoon, back in 2004, he was released on October 19th. I was right there outside the prison, in the middle of a prairie snowstorm, to meet Marc upon his first moments of freedom. I can’t tell you how anxiously I await the day when Marc is free from this imprisonment, and I can run up and jump on him and squeeze him and kiss him until I can’t breathe anymore!

 

I sincerely hope people will contribute to this moneybomb on Saturday October 19th, because we rely on supporters for the expenses related to this unjust case. Thankfully, because Marc helped so many people with money, seeds, and even just inspiration in the decades he’s been fighting for freedom, we have received such kind messages of support and know that people out there care, and want Marc to be sent home!

 

The October 19th “Free Marc Emery Moneybomb” will be announced and explained more thoroughly soon at www.CannabisCulture.com. However, if you’d like to donate now in advance of the moneybomb, we are earmarking all donations made online to the legal fees for the US transfer specialist and will include it in the total for the fundraiser moneybomb on Saturday October 19th. You can donate at the Cannabis Culture online store in the FREE MARC section here.

 

We believe that the Canadian government has no reason to refuse Marc’s request, and so far the indications have been relatively positive. A few months ago, some supporters met Public Safety Minister Vic Toews and asked him to bring Marc home, and he first said nothing, but then said that he wouldn’t object as long as Marc promised not to break the law anymore (an obvious requirement for transfer, and something Marc has already agreed to, as required at sentencing and for transfer).

 

More recently, a friend of ours met Toews at an event in Toews’ constituency in Manitoba, and presented him with a neat and tidy information packet about Marc and cannabis facts. Dan Grice asked Toews to bring Marc home, and Toews said he didn’t have a problem with it as long as Marc doesn’t “piss off the Americans” anymore. Here’s the exchange they had, as reported by our friend:

 

 

So that’s a good sign, because Marc will not "piss off" the American government the way he did with his seed sales because he doesn’t plan to sell seeds or break the law again, so he should be able to come home. But we still need support and pressure to make sure Marc gets home! Please write to Vic Toews and the US Justice Department saying that Canadian Marc Emery should be sent home to serve his sentence because American taxpayers shouldn’t have to pay for his imprisonment and because he has a Charter and treaty right to return home to do his time close to his family.

 

Also, please watch and share this video, where I update everyone on YouTube about Marc. It’s been so long, but finally, I went over all the news and what’s coming up next.

 

The wife of Marc Emery, Jodie, brings us up to date on how Marc is doing in US federal prison, and what lies ahead for him. He will be moved to a new prison at some point in the near future: Taft FCI, in California. Read Jodie’s latest blog for more information. (Correction from the video: Marc Emery Legal Fundraiser Moneybomb is Saturday October 16th, not the 19th.)

 

Marc was ordered extradited from Canada on May 10th, was formally removed from Canada and taken to SeaTac FDC in Seattle on May 20th, and was sentenced to 5 years in prison on September 10th. Information about the sentencing is found at www.FreeMarc.ca and www.CannabisCulture.com

Marc’s Canadian transfer application to return to Canada to serve his sentence is now with the Public Safety Minister of Canada, and we need help to get him to say YES! Marc will soon be sent to Taft FCI in California to serve his sentence, and will apply to the US government for transfer to Canada. We need people’s help to get them to say YES too! We also need to fundraise $8,500 to hire the US transfer specialist lawyer, so please join our fundraising moneybomb on Saturday, October 16th!

So to help FREE MARC EMERY, please go to www.FreeMarc.ca and www.CannabisCulture.com

Also subscribe to Cannabis Culture’s YouTube account at www.YouTube.com/CannabisCultureMag and Jodie Emery’s account at www.YouTube.com/JodieEmery

 

 

Dearest Jodie: I so loved our two visits this weekend. And what a momentous weekend it was! We got the sentencing done, and it went as we expected, and my application to be transferred back into the Canadian corrections system was delivered to the Canadian Consulate in Seattle. It will be on the Minister of Public Safety Vic Toews’ desk late next week. The Marc Emery Support Day comes at just the right time this Saturday, September 18.

 

Please emphasize to anyone that they don’t have to join a rally if there isn’t one nearby; it’s preferable that they simply make a few legible signs and hold them up at their nearest busy intersection, baseball or football stadium or well-frequented place for 2-3 hours after noon. "Google ‘Prince of Pot’ Marc Emery – political prisoner – Return Him to Canada" for Americans, and "Repatriate Marc Emery Back to Canada, Vic Toews!" for Canadians. That will help me immensely.

(Other rally signs and suggestions are found here and here.)

 

You were amazing this week, my love, doing dozens of interviews in so much media, including CNN, CBC, Canadian Press, the Seattle area news, and so many Canadian radio, TV, and newspapers. The email copies I received were over 20 different reports, and you’ve told me there were over 350 news results on Google about it. I know you were nervous beforehand but, as always, you got so much done and said. It was great seeing you in court and then visiting with me afterward.

I’ve received emails from close friends assuming I’m sad or dejected but I am not! I’m excited to be moving on. We have huge support to have me transferred back to Canada! We have dozens of elected politicians signing a joint letter to Vic Toews urging my repatriation, including MPs, Mayors, Councillors, MLAs, and Senators. Toews has received over a thousand letters so far since August 1st and I know he will get several hundred more. We must urge everyone to send in a letter to him urging my immediate approval of my transfer under the treaty that obligates the Canadian government to bring me back. As you know, I qualify under the criteria established in the Treaty for the Transfer of International Offenders between Canada and the United States – I’m not part of organized crime, I’m not a threat to national security, no victims object to my return (as there are no victims), and I’m not going to reoffend.

The Judge recommended my transfer request be honoured, and though it is not legally binding, it is of moral suasion to both governments. The District Attorney said they would make no objection. The State Department is the only body remaining to make a decision from the US. My application for transfer will be submitted as soon as I get to my designated US prison, which I hope is Lompoc FCI just north of Santa Barbara, in California. I chose Lompoc because it has email, is relatively easy for you to get there to visit me, has good weather to be in the "yard" daily, and has 2-man cells, similar to what I am used to here at the FDC. I expect to pack-out of here sometime in late October, and be at my designated FCI by late November. Then my application gets done. It’s costly, but I hope you can raise the money to pay for our treaty transfer specialist that we hired to help get my US application approval. I know I already suck up nearly $1,000 a month for commissary, phone, email and newspaper subscriptions, and you spend much more than that visiting me, but you will need to find $4,000 to pay for the treaty transfer specialist that I want hired. We need someone knowledgeable with the US application process and this woman is reputed to be very good at assisting a successful application. Please ask around and get donations and see who can help.

Of course it’s possible I’ll get sent to TAFT Correctional Institution (CI) in California, or Dalby in Texas, or McRae in Georgia, or a CI in Pennsylvania, Mississippi, or New Mexico – private prisons that specialize in deportable and "criminal aliens", as I am considered. The problem with places like these is that they are very much more difficult for you to access to visit and most don’t have email.

I won’t really even know where I’m going to end up until I actually get there, and there will be days or even weeks when you won’t hear from me while I am on the road and getting in-taken at FDC’s on the way to my final designation prison. It will be very difficult and trying for both of us, but we must get along in the process to reach my goal of being home in Canada on full parole by Christmas, 2011. That’s the point I’ll have served over 20 months of my sentence, and 20 months is 1/3 of the 60-month sentence; in Canada, for first time, non-violent offenders, that qualifies me for full parole. I have to get approval from the US and Canada for that to happen, but it is the hope that keeps me optimistic.

In the meantime, I have been very prolific this past week. I wrote my latest piece for SKUNK Magazine, I finished my chapter on life in federal prison for Barry Cooper’s new book, I made many corrections for my auto-biographical stories that are soon to show up on my soon-to-be-made www.marcemery.ca website, where my life story, my best work for Cannabis Culture, my best political writing, my best interviews, videos, and documentaries will be. I wrote up my speech to the Judge that I delivered in court, and made sure that the “Principle of Pot” documentary is going to be manufactured into DVDs in a few weeks so they will be available in October. I hope Cliff Maynard’s roach-paper art portrait of us will be available in quality prints in a few weeks (it’s not online yet, but you saw the original at Seattle Hempfest). I love that portrait. His art is so great, made with thousands of pieces of roach papers! He’s a genius, and I’m so pleased we were the first to give him coverage in our second-last issue of Cannabis Culture!

My friend Paul McKeever has a great blog post coming out that talks about my sentencing and quotes a fair bit of a conversation I had with him on email about this discussion going on about my letter to the judge where I said I won’t be engaging in civil disobedience any longer, and not advocating it. I hope the 28 arrests on behalf of the movement, and 22 jailings – including this very long one of at least 20 months and 40 more on parole in Canada and possibly 4 years to go here in the USA if my transfers are not approved – are sufficient in the eyes of my supporters to consider that I have "paid my dues". My example of successful civil disobedience, from illegally opening my bookstore on Sundays and seeing that law overturned, to illegally selling marijuana books and magazines and seeing that law overturned too, still exists and people know that I have used civil disobedience before. I just don’t need to do it again.

I was sincere to Judge Martinez too. I would not write anything insincere, even if I consider my incarceration an injustice, which of course it is. The vast part of my speech to the judge, and much of my letter to him, I spoke with pride of my many achievements I had accomplished: US ballot initiatives funded, Supreme Court challenges funded, the Global Marijuana Marches, BC Marijuana Party campaigns, the Iboga Therapy House, the overturning of Canada’s censorship of marijuana magazines, books, literature; financing the court cases that established Canadian federal medical marijuana law; and much more. It’s a staggering catalog of success and activism and I never said I regretted any of it.

At the end of my letter to the judge, I said I would not longer be civilly disobedient, but this is a practical matter. Once back in Canada, if I am released at 20 months under current Canadian law, I’m on parole for 40 months more. If I break the law, any laws, I can get sent back to prison for all or part of that 40 months. There are no circumstances that I am willing to cross that legal threshold for.

Now, as a corollary to the statement I won’t break the law, I certainly won’t advocate to others what I won’t do myself. Secondly, in order to get my transfer to Canada into the Canadian Corrections system, and ultimately release on parole, I’m promising the Public Safety Minister Toews I won’t break the law, so I can’t go back on my word to him either. My word is always good, whether it’s to a prison official, a judge, the Minister, my customers, my wife, or my supporters.

In order to travel to the United States, there’s a period of 4 years of supervised release after the 60 months of prison/parole is completed. So if I’m in the United States anytime to the year 2019, I have to honour these sentencing mandates. It would appear after I’m deported back to Canada, upon my release on parole or afterward, I may be eligible for travel in the United States, which is excellent as I am dearly wanting to speak to my American supporters in speeches and appearances. But again, breaking the law in that period can result in my immediate imprisonment. So public bong hitting, smoking pot in public, and, because I can be urine tested anytime in that 9 years in the US (and for the 60 months in Canada), no smoking pot at all, all these previously common activities are not going to be available to me for some time, likely until pot becomes legal, which I hope is soon.

If my critics – and I understand, Jodie, that there are so-called supporters on Facebook and elsewhere anguishing over my statement to the judge that there will be no further law-breaking from me – and naysayers want to honour me, then it is incumbent on them to end prohibition where they live. Until then, they are free (until they are not) to use civil disobedience if they choose that path, but I am bound up by my promises, which are necessary, not to break the law or recommend that course of action. If this criticism comes from people who themselves are too timid to do what they expect me to do, I find this hypocritical. Others, like my good friend Chris Goodwin, do not travel to the US, because he already has a criminal record and has no hope of traveling to the US. Chris is a fine activist, but there may also come a time when, because he has two children and employees who depend on him, civil disobedience may be unavailable to him as a practical option. For people like you, Jodie, oh sweet wonderful wife, you cannot disobey laws for the simple matter you need to be able to travel to the US to visit me, and you must set an example for others that your method of working in the current political environment can influence and cause change towards a just society. Others simply cannot use civil disobedience if it jeopardizes their ability to travel to the US or their employment prospects.

I did admit I was arrogant to the judge. I admitted I regret breaking the law, but that is because I dislike jail and I greatly miss you, my dear, more than anything else in this world, and you and I know how heartbreaking our separation is. I never renounced any of the results of my action; I never said I regret selling seeds. I didn’t concede I harmed anyone. I said in my speech to the judge – which will soon be available when you receive the court transcript – that prohibition harms individuals, nations, and harms even respect for the rule of law by diminishing the integrity of our Constitutions. A criminal, when being contrite, may say "I regret harming you" or "I am sorry for the damage I did". I did not do that. I was proud of the results, and I indicated so. I was regretful of my punishment and promised not to offend again, but these are practical admissions, and as it turned out, the last paragraph of my letter to the judge was what he said he needed to agree to the 5-year sentence and wish me well, rather than rejecting the sincerity of my plea and ordering me to trial, which was his alternative.

One comment I found interesting on the Facebook discussions, which are being relayed to me from my friends, was someone who said having to confess and apologize to the judge of a court where tyranny is being justified “is like a rapist demanding his victim say ‘I love you’ during the outrage". I like the metaphor, I’m not sure it’s exactly accurate, but it makes one think.

Another point I’d like to make, Jodie, is that throughout my letter and speech to the judge, I never referred to my actions as criminal conduct. I always referred to them as civil disobedience. Can you imagine how a court would react if any other defendant went in and referred to their conduct as ‘civil disobedience’? Oh Nelly, that would make a judge explode! But Judge Martinez didn’t react adversely where I used that term. He clearly had some sympathy for my predicament, wished me well, admitted 5 years is a long, long time, conceded the drug war was gravely flawed, but said, in final, my conduct was "criminal" and a sentencing judgment was no place to determine the validity of prohibition.

My lawyer brought up Karen Tandy’s statement about my politics being the true motivation for the DEA prosecution, and spoke of my original prosecutor John McKay’s recent admission in the Seattle Times that the cannabis prohibition is "dangerous" and "endangers the lives of his brave colleagues in policing" and is "futile".

My judge understood my point of view, my intent, and that’s all I can ask for, along with his recommendation to the Low Security FCI Lompoc and my transfer to Canada as soon as possible. After all, I’ve already agreed to plead guilty to a criminal violation of US law, and my promise to him is I won’t break the law again, and since my actions that broke those laws were based on a philosophy (civil disobedience), I renounce that philosophy for my future conduct, and as a corollary of that, I won’t advocate anyone else emulate that philosophy. The judge accepted that promise as accepting responsibility and I think it serves both the purposes of maintaining my integrity and the integrity of the court to have this exact resolution. I didn’t renounce all other human action by me for the cause of liberty, and I didn’t condemn civil disobedience; I simply promised I wouldn’t do it or advocate it, for reasons that are obvious, rational and consistent. I will still be giving my greatest effort to the cause of ending prohibition, but these will be lawful methods, speaking, elections, writing, etc.

I want to be by your side, my great Mrs. Emery, and this is how I must do that. We have such a great future together, meeting our people and bringing our World Liberation Tour to our supporters in Canada, the United States, Europe, New Zealand, Australia, India, and elsewhere once I am out amongst them. We’ll have my book Overgrowing The World, My Life as Prince of Pot deluxe hardcover out upon my release and we’ll tour Canada to promote it and impart our knowledge and wisdom with our people as soon as we can. In the meantime, you and I are as busy as ever promoting the movement, our activity for the cause of human freedom has never been greater, and this week was a great example of our ability to bring the injustice of prohibition to millions. Let us hope our supporters feel that way too and reward us with their contribution to my liberation back to Canada this Saturday, September 18th.

I’m very proud and humbled to have such a loving, devoted, capable and intelligent wife who gives her all for me and our cause of freedom for the cannabis culture. You are an amazing woman and I am so honoured you call yourself Mrs. Marc Emery.

Your grateful husband,
Your bowed but hardly defeated Prince,
Marc

Re: A Notable Defector In The War On Pot, Sept. 10.

Chris Selley claims my husband Marc Emery sold seeds to Americans for profit, but Marc was never selling seeds for personal gain. His purpose was to finance drug policy reform, and he was tremendously successful at it. The Drug Enforcement Administration made clear that they targeted Marc as “the founder of a marijuana legalization group” due to his money being “channelled to marijuana legalization groups active in the U.S. and Canada” and his arrest was “a significant blow to the marijuana legalization movement.”

There are seed sellers in Canada, Europe and even the United States who are not arrested and certainly don’t get five years in U.S. federal prison. Marc never set foot in the States and he paid income tax to Revenue Canada as a “marijuana seed vendor.” Marc should not have been extradited to a foreign country and the excessive, unjust punishment in the U.S. federal prison system he will endure — he should have been dealt with in his home country, where the activities took place.

Marc needs to be brought home to serve his time here in Canada.

Jodie Emery, Vancouver.

By Damian Inwood, The Province

 

SEATTLE — Vancouver’s Marc Emery has gone from “Prince of Pot” to prison pauper with a five-year U.S. prison sentence for mailing marijuana seeds south of the border.

 

The 52-year-old cannabis activist spent part of the first night of his sentence holding hands with his wife Jodie, during a two-hour Seattle jail visit Saturday.

 

“He gets very emotional when he thinks of being away from me for so long,” Jodie, 25, said.

 

“He said that when he comes back to Canada, if he’s not allowed smoke cannabis, he won’t, and he doesn’t care. He doesn’t miss it — he just misses me and wants to get home.”

 

Emery was slapped with the five-year jail sentence in a plea-bargain deal after fighting for more than five years to avoid a U.S. prison term.

 

Jodie said her husband was pleased that District Court Judge Ricardo Martinez agreed to a defence recommendation that Emery be transferred to a prison in Canada to serve his sentence.

 

“His application for transfer was dropped off at the Canadian consulate, so that will soon be at (federal) Public Safety Minister Vic Toews’ desk and he can approve it almost immediately,” she said.

 

“Marc will likely be moved to a different institution somewhere in the U.S. in four to six weeks. He’ll still be called the ‘Prince of Pot’ but some people have joked about him being the ‘Prince of Prison’ and things like that.”

 

Until he is moved to Canada, Emery hopes to serve his time at a minimum-security prison in Lompoc, Calif., but he could also be sent to a jail in Mississippi, Georgia, North Carolina, Texas or New Mexico.

 

If Emery does get a treaty transfer to Canada, he could be on day parole as early as next summer and full parole by November 2011, said Jodie.

 

She said her husband will pass the time behind bars writing an autobiography and working on a Canadian voters’ guide to the federal election.

 

Jodie said she has been able to visit Emery twice a week.

 

When Emery was sentenced in Seattle Friday, he got a tongue-lashing from U.S. Attorney Todd Greenberg.

 

“This is a very serious sentence for a very serious crime,” said Greenberg. “At the time of this investigation, Mr. Emery was the largest distributor of marijuana seeds in North America.”

 

He said Emery sold millions of marijuana seeds which were grown into millions of plants in the U.S. Emery sold the seeds by mail order and telephone to anyone who placed an order, “regardless of their age, regardless of their criminal association and criminal past,” Greenberg added.

 

 

Targeted by the DEA for his political activism and his efforts to fund marijuana legalization groups, our good friend Marc finally learned his fate this afternoon in a Seattle courtroom: a five year sentence for selling marijuana seeds, in accord with a plea deal arranged with US prosecutors.

Business in Vancouver

 

With Marc Emery, B.C.’s leading marijuana activist, expected to receive a five-year jail sentence in the United States this Friday, his wife and fellow activist Jodie Emery is pointing to recent developments in the U.S.A.’s legalized marijuana movement as further evidence of the hypocrisy of the American and Canadian criminal codes.

 

“Five years after his initial arrest you have California looking to legalize marijuana this fall [and] you have the original prosecutor in his case saying that marijuana should be legalized,” Jodie told Business in Vancouver on Tuesday morning.

 

Jodie, who is the director of Cannabis Culture magazine and director-at-large for B.C.’s Green Party, also continues to claim that Marc’s arrest, which stemmed from the online sale of pot seeds from Canada into the U.S., was largely politically motivated.

 

“You have marijuana seed sellers going in and out of the U.S. to trade shows and talking about how many seeds they sell, but they aren’t being arrested or facing any lengthy prison terms.”

In a release Monday, Jodie added that though the Drug Enforcement Administration and the media have reported that Marc “made millions of dollars,” all of the money generated through seed sales was given away to activism groups and events.

 

“Marc started selling seeds with the explicit goal of funding the marijuana legalization movement, which he did tremendously well, to the tune of $4 million dollars over the decade he was in business,” she said. “He paid his income tax on seed sales, and operated openly and transparently.”

 

She said that “Free Marc Emery” rallies are being held in up to 60 cities around the world on September 18.

 

While Marc’s earlier plea bargain will likely result in his receiving a five-year sentence this Friday in a U.S. federal court in Seattle, Jodie Emery is looking to maintain public awareness of his plight in order to have him promptly transferred to a Canadian prison to serve his time.

 

She said if Emery, who is the leader of the BC Marijuana Party, can return to Canada to serve his sentence, he could be released on full-parole as early as November 2011.

 

This letter was written to be copied and sent to everyone who sends him mail so he doesn’t have to write it out repeatedly, but he still writes personal messages along with every letter he sends out.

---

As of August 20th 2010, I will have been here 92 days. With the 70 days I spent in Canada awaiting extradition, that’s 162 days total time credited to my sentence. In the US prison system an inmate receives 15% off their sentence each year (54 days) in their sentence as a "good conduct time" credit. Of course, the rules can be severe in a US prison, and it takes effort not to be punished with loss of good time or solitary confinement. So, with 162 days in by August 20th, plus 270 days "good time" over 5 years, if I spent every single day of my 5-year sentence in the US system, my release date is mid-June 2014, or 3 years and 9.5 months away.

As a Canadian citizen (a "criminal alien") in the US system, I cannot qualify for designation to a minimum-security "camp" that my offense would normally fit under. I am only permitted in the next level up of security, a "Low". I also cannot get the 12-month sentence reduction American citizens in the system receive for the Residential Drug & Alcohol Rehabilitation Program (R-DAP), nor do I qualify for the early release to a halfway house six months prior to the end of sentence. However, once transferred to the Canadian Federal Corrections system, I qualify for accelerated parole.

My sentencing is actually September 10th in the Seattle Federal Court of Judge Martinez. The judge, the district attorney and myself, represented by the very able lawyer Richard Troberman, have agreed on a 5-year sentence in a procedure called an 11(c)1(c). It’s pretty well guaranteed, but nothing in a courtroom is really guaranteed so this is as close as it comes. There will be rallies in many cities on the day after my sentencing, September 18th, so stay tuned to www.FreeMarc.ca and www.CannabisCulture.com for details and updates.

Should everything go as expected in court on the 10th, I will be sentenced that day to a 5-year term. Depending on a Pre-Sentence Report compiled by the court, I should get designated to a "Low" Security Federal Correctional Institution (FCI or CI). This FCI could be anywhere in the United States, and I will be sent there some time in October, November, January or even February. (No prisoners are moved in December). It will be likely a roundabout journey involving a few stops on the way where I will be housed in an FDC like Sea-Tac until I reach my destination jail; it could take several weeks of buses and FDC’s just to get to where I am headed.

I would like to be designated to Terminal Island FCI in California, but Lompac FCI "Low" or Taft CI are more likely. Taft is a prison in the California desert that specializes in "Criminal aliens" – that is, non-US citizens in the system like me. There are 12 FCI "Lows" in the USA that specialize in "criminal aliens", two in California (California City and Taft), 4 in Texas, one each in New Mexico, Mississippi, Georgia, North Carolina, Ohio. I can ask the judge to recommend a preferred place to be, relative to my wife Jodie’s ability to visit me, but the Bureau of Prisons reserves the right to send me to any prison in their system. You can find out about the Bureau of Prisons at their website www.bop.gov.

Immediately after my sentencing on September 10th, I will make an application to the Canadian Minister of Public Safety to serve my sentence in the Canadian Correctional system. Canada and the US have a treaty whereby each country promises to repatriate their nationals that are convicted in the others’ criminal justice system. The process involves me applying to Canada first, and then, when I reach my designated prison in the US, making my US application. The decision in Canada is with the Minister of Public Safety, currently Mr. Vic Toews, and he will have my application on his desk by late September.

If you are Canadian, I need your help! Please write to:

The Honourable Vic Toews
Parliament Hill, Suite 306, Justice Building
House of Commons
Ottawa, Ontario
K1A 0A6

Urge him to repatriate Marc Emery. Impress on him that I am a good Canadian who has made many valuable contributions to Canadian life, that I love my country, and will not be selling seeds at any time in the future. Add your own personal reasons relating to my worthiness in being brought into the Canadian corrections system. Be polite and not too long. Put your complete name and address on the letter. This letter should be sent to him as soon as possible in August, September or October. Ask your Member of Parliament to send a letter to Mr. Toews urging the Hon. Minister Toews to repatriate me.

Once I am back in the Canadian system, I will qualify for full parole by Christmas 2011, and it is possible I could celebrate Christmas with my beloved wife if you and all those you know take the time and effort to write Mr. Toews a good letter. Your support here is SO VALUABLE and IMPORTANT to my future! It’s actually the law that Canada has to repatriate its citizens from US jails under this treaty, and the only grounds for refusal are 1) being a member of organized crime, 2) being a threat to the public safety, and 3) likely to commit the offense again. One of the important points about me is that in 5 years of bail (August 2005 to May 2010), I never violated my commitment to not sell seeds in that time, and can be counted on to abide by my commitments in my parole and post-parole period IF I am repatriated to Canada.

Once I am designated to a US FCI, I can, and will, make application to the US Bureau of Prisons for transfer to Canada. The US, when they approve such applications, does so usually within 3-5 months of application. Canada takes back prisoners 3 times yearly, publishing a list issued by The Minister of Public Safety. The US Bureau of Prisons, a division of the US Justice Department, makes its decision in conjunction with the prosecuting District Attorney, and any victims (none in my case).

My American supporters are urged to send a letter to the Bureau of Prisons at the Justice Department in Washington, DC, urging my transfer to the Canadian Corrections system as soon as the possible.

Attn: Canadian Inmate Treaty Transfer section
Federal Bureau of Prisons
320 First St., NW
Washington, DC 20534

If all goes well and I am accepted by both countries for transfer, I could find myself in the Canadian system by late summer of 2011, and on full parole (under current Canadian law, which is unfortunately under threat of being changed by the Conservative government of Canada) by November or December 2011, or January 2012.

The more support I receive in letters to the Canadian and American officials, the better chance I have of repatriation, so please write a letter. It doesn’t have to be long or complex, it just needs to demonstrate that citizens want me sent home.

Not much changes here in my life, so my routine has to keep me busy and motivated!

I get up at 5:45 am each morning and go down to the computer room. That’s because the inmate email service, which costs $3.50 an hour, comes alive at 6:00 am. I am usually the first waiting! Jodie sends me an overnight email telling me how much she loves me and all the things she did in the previous day and what her plans are for this day. It’s usually a wonderful comprehensive and information packed email of politics, business, personal stories, support, and addressing my many questions and requests for money, books, information, news.

I have 30 email contacts, the maximum allowed, and I rely on them to write me an email as often as they can. Sometimes they write, "You haven’t written me recently" as an excuse for why THEY haven’t written, but in jail not much changes, each day is virtually the same, so I have, in effect, over several days, nothing new to write about EXCEPT reacting to their lives as they share them with me. In the real world, decisions are made, things happen, travel, restaurants, work, love, sex, disappointment, joy, sunny days, stormy days, money matters, family, all these things HAPPEN to people on the outside. There is little going on here but my daily routine, which I’ll shortly describe to you. I’m not going to travel, there will be no change in my diet, there will be no sex, I’m not going to see the sun or the rain, makes friends of my own choosing, etc. My life has one purpose here, to be as productive as possible in extremely restrictive circumstances so as not to fall into despair from loneliness and boredom. The only distraction I have is you, my dear correspondent. The quality of your email or letter to me has a great bearing on how my day is. The only reaction I can have is from photos, articles, letters, news, and information from the outside world. That’s my ONLY stimulation here, reacting to the input of friends and correspondents.

Well, not quite the only stimulation. I do about 3 to 4 hours of email everyday, largely to Jodie and my close friends and associates. I write editorials, do interviews (through letters and emails), and work on projects like my 2010 Canadian Voters Guide to Defeat the Conservatives and a book of my cannabis activist career, tentatively called ‘Overgrowing The World, My Cannabis Revolution’. I receive three newspapers daily when the mail arrives at around 3:30 pm: USA Today, Seattle Times and the wonderful New York Times. I have 9 magazine subscriptions: Reason, The Atlantic, Mother Jones, National Geographic, the Economist, Rolling Stone, MacLean’s, Harper’s, and Mojo. My favorite is MacLean’s because it is efficient in keeping me informed (albeit from the conservative perspective most times) about Canadian news and politics. The Economist is next most useful. Rolling Stone and The Atlantic are very readable. I really haven’t had enough time to read National Geographic, but it is very popular amongst the inmates who I lend the magazines to. I have a nice collection of books and graphic novels. In jail I have read Alan Moore’s WATCHMEN twice, PROMETHEA (best graphic novel ever done, all six volumes), Tom Gordon (Vol. 1 & 2), with Top 10 and SWAMP THING still to go. Still to read are Nelson Mandela’s Autobiography, the Philosophy of Gandhi, and The Noam Chomsky Reader. I finished the magnificent book ‘Parting the Waters’, a remarkably well-researched book on Martin Luther King, Jr. and the civil rights movement. This is just the first volume of a three-volume set, each volume is 1,000 pages thick! It’s by Taylor Branch and is truly a wonderful, inspiring history that I read every night from 11 pm to 2 am by my battery-operated booklight. I received volume 2, ‘Pillar of Fire’, and will get volume 3 after I finish volume 2. I finished and greatly enjoyed Christopher Hitchens’ erudite and extremely literate memoirs ‘Hitch-22’. I also have his ‘god Is Not Great’ book to read. I finished the expose of the Christian fundamentalism that permeates the Conservative party of Canada and the Canadian government in ‘The Armageddon Factor’ by Marci McDonald.

I only get 300 minutes per month of phone use, so that limits me to call just Jodie 10 minutes a day over 30 days, but I use 15 minutes a day on days when Jodie doesn’t visit me, so that’s 22 days a month I call her. Jodie visits me twice each weekend while I am at SeaTac FDC, which is a very time consuming and expensive effort on her behalf. If you want to contribute any money so I can see my beloved wife, give Jodie a donation to help her afford to visit me, it costs about $600 every weekend for her to see me twice, and it’s a struggle to find that money! (Email JodieEmery@gmail.com if you want to help!)

Only relatives or spouses can visit here at FDC Sea-Tac, so Jodie is my only permissible visitor. She visits me on the Fridays to Monday on even numbered days so, for example, she is visiting on Friday August 20th in the afternoon, and Sunday August 22nd in the early morning. She is speaking at the Seattle Hempfest that particular weekend, meeting activists and enthusiasts of the cannabis culture, and seeing me. This is the most exciting part of my life for sure! It’s a 2-hour contact visit so when we first meet I grab Jodie around the waist and swing her around and kiss her for a passionate 30 seconds. It’s electric! It’s like getting married each time! It’s so thrilling! Then after our intense embrace and kiss, we sit opposite each other and hold hands the entire time (which I love) and our faces are about 6 inches away and we talk, talk, talk and that 2 hours goes by lovingly but quick. But it sure is heaven for me. Jodie always wears a beautiful dress and I think she looks so magnificent. When she leaves I can kiss her for 30 seconds, and oh I do! It’s a little bittersweet when she leaves but I know I will see her in two days or no longer than a week later. She stays just down the road at a nearby hotel until she takes the airplane back to Vancouver after the second visit of the weekend. I cherish every visit! When I am moved to an FCI elsewhere in America, it will cost much more money and take up even more travel time so Jodie will only be able to visit me every second week, but it will be two or three days in a row on the weekends she does visit.

The computer in the email room has no cut & paste, or any function other than straight typing of a Corrlinks email. I can’t forward emails. I can’t access the internet. But it’s still a wonderful thing. I suspect the $3.50 an hour the BOP charges me for it barely covers the cost of their staff screening my emails. All letters in and out, all emails and all phone calls (except to my lawyer) are screened by BOP staff. They haven’t censored anything, but I was put in solitary confinement for 21 days on June 4 for allegedly breaking a rule on the phone, which I was not aware of (making a podcast) and did not even find in the rulebook here, nor was 21 days in the grueling deprivation of solitary a justified punishment, in my opinion. Nonetheless, rules here can have severe consequences if broken. I did not lose any of my good time though, and since being released from SHU (Special Housing Unit) solitary confinement on June 25, I have not had even a write up, so I do try to obey all rules when I am aware of them.

Phone calls to Jodie cost 35 cents a minute. The postage stamps they sell me for letters are the ‘Liberty Bell’ universal 44-cent stamp (two for Canada) and I can only buy 20 a week. It is unsurpassable irony that a political prisoner as I am has to purchase ‘Liberty Bell’ postage stamps to send my letters from jail. Oh these United States of America! It’s like the license plates of New Hampshire that say ‘Live Free or Die’ on them, while they are made by prisoners at the state jail in Concord, New Hampshire!

I do email from 6 am to 6:40 am, I still manage to get my two breakfast milks and down them just before morning lockdown, from 6:40 am to 8:00 am when we are locked in our cells. I, like virtually every other inmate, go back to sleep. Lately I’ve been sleeping to 10 am, waking up too late for the showers, which are available 3 times daily (8-10 am, 1:30-3:30 pm, 7:30-9:30 pm). I go check email from 10 am to 10:45, at which time we have lunch. Today lunch was canned vegetables, beans and two cheese sandwiches plus a small salad of onion, tomato and lettuce. After lunch I read the newspapers I received from the day before, and any magazines I’ve received that I haven’t finished. Then we get locked down from 12:15 to 1:15 pm, and I start writing my replies to mail. Any correspondents will get this letter plus a handwritten reply to their specific questions and comments. This permits me to not have to write the same basic information I have done in the previous 200 letters I have written from Sea-Tac FDC so far since I arrived here on May 20.

I usually point out that I consider myself a political prisoner, because the chief of DEA specifically stated this in her letter to the media and public on the day of my arrest in July 29, 2005, when DEA and RCMP had me arrested just prior to a speech I was giving at the Maritimers United for Medical Marijuana festival in Laurencetown, Nova Scotia. The head of DEA (US Drug Enforcement Administration) proudly proclaimed:

“Today’s DEA arrest of Marc Scott Emery, publisher of Cannabis Culture Magazine, and the founder of a marijuana legalization group — is a significant blow not only to the marijuana trafficking trade in the U.S. and Canada, but also to the marijuana legalization movement.

“His marijuana trade and propagandist marijuana magazine have generated nearly $5 million a year in profits that bolstered his trafficking efforts, but those have gone up in smoke today.

“Emery and his organization had been designated as one of the Attorney General’s most wanted international drug trafficking organizational targets — one of only 46 in the world and the only one from Canada.

“Hundreds of thousands of dollars of Emery’s illicit profits are known to have been channeled to marijuana legalization groups active in the United States and Canada. Drug legalization lobbyists now have one less pot of money to rely on.” (See the original document here)

Her entire statement talks about my politics, money to legalization groups, my "propagandist" magazine. At no point are any victims identified, nor have there ever been any victims or identification of victims. No other person brought before a US court has been tried exclusively for seeds.

No other Canadian seed seller (and there have been over 150 in Canada over the last 10 years) has been sought for extradition. Only one Canadian seed seller has even gone to jail in Canada, for one month, and that was for a huge quantity, three pounds of seeds, along with corresponding sales ads in High Times Magazine and marijuana samples of each strain seized – that was Daniel Anthony Kostantin in March 2008, as reported in the Vancouver Sun. Even the owner of Heaven’s Stairway, accused in Montreal of exporting seeds to the US, and convicted in March 2010 received 2 years house arrest, no prison time at all! So this 5 year sentence I have received in the US, aided and abetted by my extradition by the Canadian Justice Minister, is punishment solely based on my massive $4,000,000 in contributions to the cannabis liberation movement from 1995 to 2005, and my endless speeches in documentaries, television specials, Canada-wide tours (2003 – Summer of Legalization Tour, 2004 – Canadian University Tour) and articles, editorials and my brazen seed catalog in my "propagandist" magazine Cannabis Culture. I was put on the radar as far back as the front page article on me Dec. 5, 1995 in the Wall Street Journal, "Pot Seed Merchant, winked at By Police, Prospers in Canada". Then when CNN did a special on me in September 1997, on "Impact, with Bernard Shaw" in a long, in-depth segment titled "Canada Cannabis", it came to the attention of US and Canadian officials, and I was raided shortly afterward (but still remained in business). Articles lauding my work (I have only ever received negative coverage in the National Enquirer of December 1996) have appeared in Rolling Stone Magazine (April 1998), New York Times (September 2005), Washington Post (summer 2006), CBS 60 Minutes (2006), The Economist (August 2000), Time Magazine (2000), MTV (2003), National Geographic (2009 – Explorer, "Inside Marijuana"), Australian Broadcast Corporation’s 60 Minutes (2007), in documentaries "Escape to Canada", "The Union" "Prince of Pot" "Principle of Pot" and numerous others available on Youtube and found by Google. I have been interviewed by the Times of India, and media in Norway, Finland, Slovenia, Czech Republik, the Netherlands, Mexico and numerous other countries.

In the afternoon I write letters, check my email mid-day and then receive my mail – newspapers, magazines, books and letters – around 3 pm. We are locked down from 3:40 pm to 4:30 pm. It’s dinner time when we get out at 4:30 to 4:45 pm. In lockdown, I usually continue to write letters, leaving newspapers, magazines to read in the evening lockdown from 9:40 (lockdown) to about 11 pm, when lights go out and then I read my current book with booklight from 11 am to 2 am. I call Jodie once a day (when not a visitation day) between 7:30 pm and 9:15 pm, for 15 minutes. Use of phones and email stop at 9:40 pm lockdown.

My cell is shared with another ‘cellie’, the name we use for the other inmate who shares the 12′ x 7′ cell that has a washbasin and toilet, two lockers, a double bunk, and a desk & chair. It’s all made of steel, though we have two plastic chairs in the cell for fellow inmate visitors or just a more comfortable seat instead of the bunk bed. There are 63 cells, the maximum capacity in this unit, DB, is 125 men, but the usual is 85-105 men. The unit is shaped like a triangle, measuring 80′ x 70′ x 60′, with two stories. The upper story is used like an exercise track by most inmates, 21 laps equals one mile. The lower level has 4 raised televisions, one for Spanish language programming for the 45 or so Mexicans/Hispanic Americans, the other 3 are news, entertainment and various shows in English or with English subtitles. You hear the television over portable Sony radios you can buy from commissary for $45, and you buy Koss headphones for $34 to listen to either the radio or TV, so it’s not audible for anyone to hear on the range without headphones. Also on the range are 20 tables with 4 seats attached to each, the C.O.’s quarters (the C.O. is the on-duty Correctional Officer/guard) is a 9′ x 9′ structure where he or she works and monitors the range.

We don’t ever get to go outside, there is no ‘yard’ here at an FDC (pre-trial detention center) – ‘yards’ are only at the designated jail or prison you get sent to after sentencing. There is a gymnasium for playing basketball or volleyball, it’s a concrete floor and in my opinion leads to injury, but the air in the gym is through a grating to the outside, so it’s fresh air. There are no weights here, but the inmates do a lot of improvised exercises throughout the range and in the gym. I sure do miss going outside and feeling the warming, satisfying rays of the sun.

I am the only inmate in the unit on a no-flesh diet, a poor mans ‘vegetarian’ diet that usually lacks any fresh vegetables, except recently, for the first time in 75 days, I had a fresh vegetable feast for my dinner, 5 green pepper slices, 5 tomato wedges, 4 broccoli pieces, 2 cauliflower pieces, 3 cherry tomatoes, medium cheddar cheese (real thing!) and 3 hard boiled eggs. It was spectacular. It has never been that good. I felt really healthy that day, but such a fresh vegetable tray like that is extremely rare! Normally, the meals are considerably underwhelming in taste and nutrition, the diet is repetitious and discouraging. But I eat any apples, bananas, and oranges and grapefruits we get, that’s for sure. In fact, I eat whatever I get!

Once a week we put all our clothes worn in the previous week in laundry bags with our name on it and put them in a laundry bin and later that day they come back washed. We have to iron the t-shirts, trousers, and smocks after we get our laundry back, otherwise they look very wrinkled. Our clothing issuance is 7 pair of socks, 7 pair of underwear, 3 trousers, 3 smocks, 6 t-shirts. We also have our bed linen washed each week, but they get returned pressed.

I have three photo albums full of photos, one album is sexy and beautiful pictures of Jodie, which I look at every day, another is an album of Jodie and sometimes Jodie & I, doing political activity, and a third album are photos from supporters wearing their FREE MARC shirts or holding up FREE MARC signs throughout the world. I have more photos of Jodie and supporters so I am getting two more photo albums next week from commissary.

One of the most satisfying things to get in the mail are photos of my correspondents doing FREE MARC activism in their hometown. Most every letter I get says “I support you”, but to me, a photo is proof that their support is real and has become action. Action is the only real support there is. Letter writing, holding a FREE MARC sign at a major intersection, concert, rally or sports event, wearing a FREE MARC t-shirt, composing a FREE MARC song – this is genuine support, and any picture or photo is very satisfying proof.

The Commissary is the inmate store. We put in orders on Monday, and on Tuesday we get the items back. We can spend $320 a month at the commissary, and I usually reach my maximum. Monthly costs are $320 for commissary, $350 for email, $105 for phone calls, $100 for newspaper subscriptions, total $875, which is a burden on Jodie unless I get donations from supporters, which fortunately I do. The Government of Canada garnisheed most of my money, and of any money I could earn, 80% is seized by the Government to pay back taxes, interest and penalties. Currently I have no employment source of income as a result of my incarceration, so I do rely greatly on the kindness of strangers, to quote the play ‘Streetcar Named Desire’.

From the commissary I get razor blades, shave cream, soap, floss picks, tuna packs, tortillas, pens, stationery, postage stamps, oatmeal, the radio/headphones, calcium tablets, vitamin E, aspirin, shampoo, photo albums, etc. I spend about $70 a week on those kinds of items. Some supporters want to donate to my prison commissary to make my time here more comfortable, so if you’d like to contribute, you can deposit funds directly into my account by using Western Union (the "Quick Collect Form") and filling in the following information:

You can also send money to Jodie for her to deposit into my account if you’re not able to get to Western Union, or you can even donate to her for travel fees, as I love nothing more than seeing her and it’s really helpful to have assistance with the cost of flying and staying in hotels to visit me. Email JodieEmery@gmail.com or send mail to Jodie Emery, 307 West Hastings Street, Vancouver BC, V6B 1H6, Canada.

If an inmate has a medical issue, it takes time to get attention here so you have to stay in good health on your own. When I had an abscessed toe (from picking with my fingers and not using nail clippers that I have from commissary; lesson learned), I put in a cop-out (that’s what requests to staff are called) and requested oil of oregano to put in the abscessed area, which I know from my doctor in Vancouver and personal experience is very effective. You soak the toe in really hot water for 30 minutes 4 times a day for two days and by the second days it softens the area up, then you break open the area easily and drain the pus, put it back in the hot salted water, and then put oil of oregano in the open wound. Jodie was worried so she told me to just start soaking my foot in hot salted water even without the oil of oregano, so a day after I put the cop-out in I started soaking it in hot water, broke the area open the next day, drained the pus, immersed it in really hot salted water, kept it clean and dry and it was completely healed within 24 hours. Nine days after putting in my request, I was finally called to the doctor’s office to hear they only have antibiotics for that kind of thing and don’t have oil of oregano – which, fortunately, I was not in need of any longer. Medical attention improves somewhat once you are sent to the designated jail after sentencing, so I hear.

One final request! Nothing makes me feel better than knowing you might be helping me in my cause! Campaigning against Bill S-10 (mandatory minimum prison time for cannabis) in Canada, working to pass Proposition 19 in California, getting out to vote in both countries, supporting ballot initiatives for medical marijuana, all these things delight me when you write me about your ACTION! When you wear your FREE MARC shirts (available at www.cannabisculture.com/store), write the Minister of Public Safety or the Bureau of Prisons at the US Justice Dept, or hold a sign up or a rally on my behalf, then that is the best news I will receive all day.

Please visit the website FreeMarc.ca or www.CannabisCulture.com to see the latest news and postings about my situation.

To write to me by mail send your letters, photos and clippings to:

Marc Scott Emery, #40252086, Unit DB
Sea-Tac FDC
Box 13900
Seattle, WA
98198-1090
USA

I will answer your specific questions and comments by hand along with this printed letter, so thank you for writing me and I look forward to hearing about what you’ve done for freedom lately, and the cause of cannabis liberation!

Marc Scott Emery