Canada's "prince of pot"

[billy]

The man once known as Canada's "prince of pot" is now a federal inmate in the U.S. system after a judge in Washington sentenced him Friday to five years in prison.

Marijuana activist Marc Emery pleaded guilty in May in U.S. District Court in Seattle, Washington, to a single count of conspiracy to manufacture marijuana after an 18-month investigation into the seed-selling business Emery operated from his head shop in Vancouver, British Columbia.

source:
i like this guy. specially the fact he put money into trying to establish legality for pot.

[billy]

actually it's not that bad, he's serving a year and 4 years probation.
he struck a deal with the u.s. courts. still bad though.

would such an extradition be allowed. (for selling weed seeds? }

[billy]

i thought he got a lighter sentence because he allowed himself to be extradited?
in order to get a lesser sentence should an extradition be allowed.

[billy]

in one word "no"

the longer version is that if it's legal to send seed through the post in canada.
and not legal to receive it in the usa. the people who are breaking the law are those receiving the seeds. it' should be up to u.s.a. customs and drug agencies to arrest those people. (jmo)

[srijantje]

it's very disturbing that somebody gets extradited for something that's not illegal in his own country,dea enemy no 1 or not has NOTHING to do with that.if haiti would have asked for him the canadians would have laughed their ass off,i wonder where the arm twist is?

[billy]

the arm twist is probably in trade.

but you have a good point sj.

[srijantje]

you really think they would say,if you don;t give us that guy we'll put trade sanctions on you?or is it more likely they're big buddys all along and the rest is outward appearance?

[srijantje]

how ironical,now theyre gonna have a referendum in california

[billy]

i can see their point though i don't agree with it.

if pot is legal in canada and not legal in the usa. then the usa have to have stricter controls at points of entry into their country.

hopefully the usa will soon decriminalize having it or buying it or even growing it. when and if that happens then canada will feel free to do what they've wanted to do for years without reprisal

[billy]

i don't think that will happen.

the usa grows oranges apples, grapes and a host of other products but it still imports them. i think the price may drop and maybe some sales but on the whole it could work out better. more people smoking it if it's legal etc.

[billy]

his wife is right. if california legalize. they won't spend millions slowing down trade routes between canada and the usa. the states would also lose out.

imagine post at 10 dollars an ounce so canada needs to get off it's arse and legalize it in every way.

[mrmod]

Wait am I seeing some sort of a hole in the law here?

He sold seeds in Canada. He is getting imprisioned in the US?

How does this even work?

[mrmod]

But as Billy said, it's the ones that buy it that are committing the crime. He's entitled to sell them (as souvenirs), no?

[mrmod]

Vulnerable? It's America itself that creates the demand for so many drugs.... Why do you think there's so much blood spilled in Mexico? It's the US that have the market and the profit.

Marc Emery is an angel compared to real Mexican drug lords...

[cigarbabe]

Why is there a distinction between a "drug lord" from point A. and one from point B.?
They are both allegedly selling drugs for consumption.
How can one be any worse
than the other judging only on their drug selling capacity?
No one can know what goes on in between a sale to "A" or a sale to "B".
For all intents and purposes they're both selling an illegal commodity right?
FWIW drugs should be made legal
for the adult consumer market here and in Canada.
C.B.

[mrmod]

True, But keep in mind that the folks in the American DEA view themselves as the good guys.

I view them as prohibition enforcers who will violate basic human rights in order to persecute people on the basis of their choice of medication and intoxicants.
It is the misguided American prohibition attempts during the past 100 years or so against alcohol, marijuana, cocaine and opiates that have created all the big criminal syndicates.

Funnily enough everyone says the same thing but the drugs are still illegal!

[cigarbabe]

Funnily enough everyone says the same thing but the drugs are still illegal!

They shouldn't be.
The money from drugs could take care of our poorer,disabled or needy citizens
wipe out our collective deficits and help to restore a bunch of services
that are always the first to be cut when they hack into the state budgets.
I believe with regular taxation and better distribution
we needn't have such a horrible downturn in our economies today.
C.B.

[mrmod]

I agree with you, I'd say most in the forum do as well and a lot of people I know personally would say the same.

But they're not legal. Everyone discusses it, but nothing's changed.

[billy]

the drug lord thing.

theres a difference between selling seed and selling drugs.

to get the drug from the seed a person has to commit a physical act (grow them)
this guy doesn't do that. did they ban barley during prohibition?

[billy]

so they can't make their own natural rope from scratch then . it seems it's not so great after all then