Free Marc Emery

Brett Ryan Book, Hamilton Spectator

 

Re: ‘Prince of Pot pleads guilty to drug distribution for five-year prison term’ ( thespec.com, May 25 )

 

Marc Scott Emery pleaded guilty to drug distribution in a Seattle courtroom as part of his five-year plea bargain deal.

 

His story brings shame to our current government and its lack of fortitude in the face of mounting pressure from the Drug Enforcement Agency. One can only ask why the DEA can operate inside our borders with such impunity and why such a politically fuelled extradition was ever allowed to happen.

 

These are questions Justice Minister Rob Nicholson, Prime Minister Stephen Harper and the Conservative Party of Canada will be faced with by a growing number of angry voters who are all awakening to the sad truth. The best thing the Conservative government can do now is to bring Emery home to serve his sentence, or face a walloping backlash at the polls.

 

Brett Ryan Book

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

Ashley Vallance, Windsor Star

 

As of May 10, for the first time in my life, I am saddened to say that I am ashamed of my country. Marc Emery has been extradited to the United States, the order being signed by Justice Minister Rob Nicholson. His crime; selling marijuana seeds over the Internet. It was a "crime" committed in Canada that usually holds about a $2,000 fine. Now Marc faces five years in a U.S. prison instead of a slap on the wrist as it should be here in Canada. When will people realize the war on drugs has created nothing but just that — a war. We have made criminals out of innocent people and we have given a harmless herb a bad name, and what a shame considering its endless list of medicinal and constructional uses. Prohibition did not work for alcohol, it will not work for marijuana.

 

A substance that is far less harmful than cigarettes and alcohol. I hope to see a day where marijuana is taken from the hands of children and left readily available to all adult citizens who wish to sustain a normal healthy life with ganja by their side.

 

Ashley Vallance,

 

Tecumseh

Jodie told me that the interview I did with NDP Member of Parliament Libby Davies for Rabble.ca finally showed up online, which makes me happy even though there are numerous errors and omissions that I will have Jodie post on CC soon. I heard news items on the radio about me, but it’s maddening how they screw up details. One radio report said "US DEA arrested Marc Emery in Canada LAST WEEK and quickly had him brought here to Seattle where today he plead guilty to manufacturing marijuana as a result of his seed selling business." There are no journalists these days, just "reporters".

I didn’t sleep a wink again last night (Monday night) but was at least able to listen to a classic rock station from 11pm to 4am. Lots of familiar nice songs, I was able to say the name of the song in 19 out of 20 songs before the first words were even sung [Jodie’s note: Marc is a music trivia master]. I don’t feel tired. I bounded out at 5:30am as soon as they opened my cell door.

I have a health screening today at 11:30m where the doc will take a blood sample and all the other stuff. Already had a tuberculosis exam (a weird injection of something); I don’t have tuberculosis, is the result of that test. One thing I’m going to say to the doctor is, "It’s too bad food services doesn’t subscribe to the Hippocratic Oath (‘First do No Harm’). Without fresh vegetables everyone here will get beriberi disease over time; without sunlight, we’ll get vitamin D deficiency," etc. I’d hate to be the doctor in this disease-causing malnutritioned environment. He must have lost some kind of bet to end up here…

The Seattle Times subscription Jodie got for me started today. It’s Monday’s edition, so I’ll get it a day later, it seems. That’s OK. Two books I asked Jodie to get for me, "Parting the Waves" and "Hammer of the Gods", arrived too! "Parting the Waves" was only $8.80 for some reason, even though its normally like $29.95. Great deal. That book is beautifully written; I got to page 100 or so at North Fraser pretrial center [before being extradited]. Started reading "Hammer of the Gods" today too.

All things considered, I’d rather be here than at North Fraser. The commissary arriving has made a world of difference, plus newspapers and books. Got pens and lined paper, food, all my toiletries, I am set! They did lose all my laundry though, but I should get replacements tomorrow.

Commisary forms are handed in on Monday, stuff arrives Tuesday. Got the same deodorant I use at home! Great razor & shave cream, a booklight to read at night, great radio & headphones, plus tuna, chicken breast, turkey breast in sealed packs for independent meals I can make. Got mixing bowl, shower shoes, batteries, etc. Mixed nuts, trail mix, and other snacks too. Sweet! My attitude is so improved. Plus I even liked the dinner tonight (hot spicy salsa on a mix of beans, cheese, tortilla, rice, and possibly chicken).

I look forward to reading about any political activity from newspaper articles. I hope people send me letters and photos through the mail, because that’s always a great thing to receive. It’ll remind me that people are still fighting for the cause even while I’m behind bars. Just as I was quoted in the CNN article about my extradition: "If just one person, me, being in jail is what it takes to arouse thousands, tens of thousands, hundreds of thousands, maybe millions of Americans and Canadians to get out and be involved and be responsible and take charge and take the initiative, then I’m a very happy individual."

I share a cell with Oliver, a Jewish Iranian-Canadian guy (see Jodie Emery’s blog entry for more on fellow inmates). It’s like North Fraser pretrial centre, concrete & steel, but with a locker. Outside of our cell is the "range" where 60 of us eat, shower, watch Tv and play cards or dominoes or such activities, as well as walking the second level walkways for exercise.

We are locked in our cells from 10pm to 6am, and from 10am to 11:30am and 4pm to 5pm. The other times we can be in the range. Normally, the range is surprisingly quiet, most people are doing things, and the TVs are by radio signal only. An inmate lent me a radio with ear buds (my own one arrives Tuesday) and there are many, many FM music stations it can pick up, many quite good, so that’s a nice discovery. PLUS, get this, I can pick up CBC Radio One at 91.7 clear as a bell, so I can hear the news!

I asked other inmates how I could get a cell on the other side of the range, because the windows over there have sunlight coming through them, and we have no outdoor exposure here of any kind, no fresh air at all, but if I could get some sun that would be nice. You have to keep an eye on when an inmate moves out and then claim his cell, so I will keep inquiring. My cell doesn’t have a desk in it like some do, I could really use that for all my writing, there isn’t a flat surface in my cell for that.

 

The poor food is getting me a bit down, but getting my commissary goods on Tuesday will help. I hope the place I get sent to after here has better opportunities for vegetables or better food, but it looks like I’ll be in tough while in these prisons.

I’m helping a fellow who is coming off methamphetamine deal with his wasted life so far and helping to rebuild him into a good human again. You know this is what I’ll do with the inmates who always come to me for help, and of course they do come to me. But no one is really aware of my work in the field of drug addiction & recovery or my political activism, but since I don’t need help, its unnecessary that they know my storied career.

Having actual "fans" here might even be annoying because they might pester me for stories and I’m more into my studies here and listening to those who need help and working on rebuilding them into decent citizens and good sons and good parents and helping them see how and why they screwed up – I’m totally brutally candid with them and they appreciate it because I don’t want anything from them – and then how they can change and redeem their sorry-ass behaviour with proper, responsible living.

All these people have kids and parents who are very sad and disappointed and I can rock them out of their self-centered obsession. Richie went through this with me in North Fraser, but he needs another good 6 weeks of me for him to reform. He was thief for most of 20 years, lying to himself and all others blithely, yet now he is 40 and at a crossroads.

Update sent on Monday evening, May 24th after entering his guilty plea

I left for court at 6:15am, was shackled in cuffs & chains from 7am to 5pm, 10 hours, with the exception of the half hour in court 2pm to 2:30 pm. Court was fine. I plead guilty as scheduled. Britney, Jeremiah, Allison Bigelow, and Joanne Vanderwolf (an employee from 1995) was there, Joanne was wearing a No Extradition shirt and was protesting outside because she brought her FREE MARC sign into the court. I was chained and waiting in a cold cell the other 9.5 hours. I haven’t had a shower or bathroom use yet, I can’t wait to get that done but shower time next is 7:30pm and its about 6pm now.

I was on TV here today as people protested at the courthouse. That’s what inmates here tell me. A number of them saw it and are introducing themselves to now because they realize who I am, including the Mexicans. A guard also read somewhere about the protests in Canada and around the world and said, "I guess a lot of those people are saying ‘Fuck those damn Yankees that took ya away’", and I responded, "We love the American people, but the US government is bad."

I’ll be sure to call or write later, after I wash and get centered again. Even though it’s horrible here, there’s lots to be thankful for, I suppose… That’s the thing about jail, you get the blues or internalized anger over things because everything is wearing on my spirit, and its only been a little over 2 weeks.

Robert Sharpe, Calgary Sun

 

Canadian marijuana activist Marc Emery is now officially a political prisoner. ( "Tinfoil hat delusion," Ian Robinson, May 16 ) If health outcomes determined drug laws instead of cultural norms, marijuana would be legal. At a time when state and local governments are laying off police, firefighters and teachers, the U.S. is prepared to spend a small fortune incarcerating Emery for five years. The Canadian government should be ashamed of its role in this travesty. There is no justification for criminalizing citizens who prefer marijuana to martinis. Marijuana prohibition has failed. The U.S. has higher rates of marijuana use than the Netherlands, where marijuana is legal. Canada should just say no to the American Inquisition.

 

Robert Sharpe

 

Common Sense for Drug

 

Policy, Washington, D.C.

Tony C. Quick, The StarPhoenix

 

I am appalled at the decision to extradite Marc Emery on May 10 for clearly political reasons, despite the move directly violating Canada’s extradition treaty with the United States which states that no citizen may be extradited for a political crime.

 

On the day of Emery’s arrest, the U.S. Drug Enforcement Agency released a statement that confirmed that the extradition was politically motivated.

 

It’s clearly targeted at the rapidly growing marijuana legalization movement in both Canada and the U.S.

 

Since Emery has tirelessly crusaded for years to legalize this harmless substance, he’s an obvious target for the wasteful and futile American "war on drugs."

 

He is only one of thousands of people out there selling seeds in the U.S., Holland and Britain, yet those parties are not being prosecuted.

 

Emery was chosen because he is an extremely influential leader in the legalization movement.

 

Never have I been more ashamed of the Canadian government, which bowed down and gave away one of our citizens for a five-year sentence for what would merit a $500-fine in our own country.

 

We truly have given away our sovereignty in giving away Emery, and are that much closer to becoming politically subjugated to the U.S.

 

Tony C. Quick

 

Saskatoon

Alan Coxwell, The Community Press

 

Wouldn’t it be nice if Canadians had a government that got "Smart on Crime" instead of "Tough on Crime"? The Harper Conservatives now have the American spin doctor game almost perfected. For eight years Stephen Harper learned from the Bush regime south of the border that to control a population, first you have to scare them, then you tell them how you are going to save them. Despite the barrage of sensational stories in the media about murder and mayhem the reality, as shown by none other than Statistics Canada, is that both violent and property crime rates have been steadily falling in Canada since 1991.

 

Conservative propaganda thinly disguised as reports to constituents in MPs’ mailouts sent at taxpayer expense have cultivated the fear. Now Justice Minister Rob Nicholson is offering to save us with his "Tough on Crime" legislation.

 

When Harper’s Conservatives prorogued parliament last winter Bill C-15 was halted in its tracks. Now Nicholson is back with Bill S-10 which includes a mandatory minimum sentence of six to nine months in jail for growing six or more marijuana plants. The maximum penalty has now been increased to 14 years. Harper plans to build lots of jails, spend billions incarcerating Canadians and branding them with criminal records for life.

 

The next step will be to privatize jails as they have done in the United States. Under this system America has 25 per cent of the people on Earth who are behind bars in their jails. Super jails are big business making big profits.

 

Nicholson’s latest move was to sign the U.S. extradition papers of British Columbia resident Marc Emery. The Americans said they wanted Mr. Emery because he was selling cannabis seeds via the Internet into America. Despite the fact Canadian authorities would not charge Marc Emery, and Health Canada had referred people with a Canadian-government-authorized Medical Marijuana Growing Licence to Mr. Emery for quality seeds, the Drug Enforcement Agency ( DEA ) of the United States of America has been allowed to take a Canadian and throw him in an American prison for five years.

 

It has to be a political move since anyone who cares to can easily buy cannabis seeds from Amsterdam over the Internet.

 

The ingenious Dutch growers even claim to have a stealth credit card system of payment which cannot be traced and they will mail seeds to anyone worldwide in a birthday card or CD case.

 

Justice Minister Nicholson could not legally allow Marc Emery’s extradition if charges were politically motivated. Marc Emery has donated millions of dollars to legalizing marijuana ( cannabis ) campaigns in Canada, the United States and Internationally.

 

This is why the Americans want him so badly. He is not afraid to stand up and point out the insanity of America’s War on Drugs. Americans have forced Canada to comply. Nicholson signed the extradition order on Monday, May 10, defying the12,000 Canadians who signed petitions presented in Parliament by NDP member Libby Davies and Liberal Ujjal Dosanjh.

 

Nicholson opted to send a Canadian citizen to a U.S. prison for five years for a crime that would be punishable with a $200 fine under Canadian laws. Our minister of justice has effectively outsourced our justice system to the United States of America.

 

Until last week I was not tuned into who Harper’s minister of justice really was so I started to educate myself. Search YouTube for Justice Minister Rob Nicholson and you can find him in lots of footage, from his own press conferences to senate committee hearings to CBC’s Power Politics with Evan Solomon. ( See http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=meUUvbFaqpA ) When Solomon asks him how he can justify a mandatory sentence of nine months for growing five pot plants our justice minister replies: "You could go into one of these grow-op operations, they may have just taken in the harvest, they may only have 5 or 10 plants there but they are still in the business of trafficking. We believe there should be mandatory jail time for the people who are in the grow-op business. They may have had 200 or 500 plants the day before yesterday."

 

I find that a rather amazing statement from a lawyer who should know the rules of evidence.

 

He goes on to say Bill S-10 is "not targeted at the person who has become addicted." Unlike cigarettes, alcohol and caffeine, which are all known to be physically addictive drugs, but perfectly acceptable in Mr. Nicholson’s world, research has shown cannabis is not physically addictive. Anything can be psychologically addictive to some personalities – sugar, sex, MSG-laced fatty foods or video game – but because something is psychologically addictive does not mean it should be illegal.

 

The last time the Jehovah Witnesses invaded my privacy by knocking on my door I engaged them in discussion by asking if they thought marijuana ( cannabis ) should be illegal. They rapidly agreed that it is evil and should be illegal. I then asked if they believed that God created Heaven and Earth and everything therein. They did. Then I asked them why they thought God created the Indica and Sativa strains of the cannabis plant. Was it for a medicine to fight a host of diseases such as Crohn’s Disease, glaucoma and arthritis just to mention a few, or was it so that our governments could throw citizens in jail, destroy their careers and their freedom to travel the Earth because they grew a few of God’s beneficial, medicinal plants.

 

They got back in their car and left without answering.

 

Alan Coxwell

 

Stirling

 

Brett Boo, Flamborough Review

 

On Monday, May 10, Justice Minister Rob Nicholson signed an order of extradition sending Marc Emery to a federal institution in the United States.

 

His crime was selling one of Earth’s most basic forms of sustenance, growth and life – seeds. Marijuana seeds.

 

When Health Canada first began giving out licences to medicinal users, they recommended to MPs and licensed users that new growers should purchase seeds online from Canadian sellers like Emery.

 

Emery has never been arrested or convicted of manufacturing or distributing marijuana in Canada, as his business was seeds. This man has been a peaceful activist for 30 years. He gave away his seed company profits to drug law reform lobbyists, global marches and rallies, political parties, litigation and a host of organizations dedicated to promoting drug law reform. He has never entered the U.S. as a seed seller.

 

The arrest and subsequent extradition are based on political motives – – Emery’s drug legalization efforts – as proven in a press release by DEA administrator Karen Tandy.

 

Our sovereignty was violated when undercover Drug Enforcement Agency agents infiltrated our country, and it was again violated by our own Justice Minister, who signed the extradition order.

 

Shame on you Rob Nicholson and shame on the Conservative Party of Canada. A refusal of extradition would have sent a clear message to the DEA and the U.S. that we are a sovereign nation not under the control of the United States of America and not subject to their drug war.

 

All we ask now is that if Emery applies for a transfer, it will be approved by Safety Minister Vic Toews. For the sovereignty of Canada – – America must free Marc Emery.

 

Brett Book

 

Hamilton

 

Jodie Emery, The Calgary Sun

 

Marc Emery is a Canadian who never went to the U.S., and never grew or sold marijuana. He sold only cannabis seeds in Canada, did it openly, paid taxes on all income and used the profits to fund political activism. Vancouver police tried to have him charged in 2003, but the Crown declined, so they worked with the Drug Enforcement Administration to indict him in the U.S. The DEA press release about Marc’s July 2005 arrest bragged it was "a significant blow to the marijuana legalization movement" because hundreds of thousands of dollars of Emery’s profits are known to have been channelled to marijuana legalization groups in the U.S. and Canada. U.S. authorities offered him a plea deal to allow him to serve his time in Canada if he was charged here, but the Conservative government refused. Marc then agreed to a five-year plea deal in the U.S. to avoid a life sentence. The justice minister’s decision to extradite Marc to the U.S. is unjust. If he 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