I blogged earlier about Canadian Marc Emery and his arrest by the DEA which will send him to America to possibly spend the rest of his life life in prison for selling Marijuana seeds over the internet. In the previous post I mentioned an upcoming documentary, which has now been aired in Canada and is posted below for your observations.
The way that U.S. federal charges for drug offenses are contsructed means that Emery could face up to 2000 life sentences for his heinous crime of selling marijuana seeds. The DEA also lists Marc Emery as one of the top drug traffickers in the world, above groups like the Hell's Angels and the Triads. At this point in North American society marijuana is still considered as dangerous as heroin and cocaine. On this point, the DEA and the RCMP are in agreement that "there is no such thing as a hard and soft drug." That's a bunch of malarkey.
Type "Marijuana seeds" into the Google and you will find options to buy seeds online from Canada, America and all over the world. The DEA wanted Emery because he funds marijuana legalization groups. Could be he, perhaps, be a political prisoner?
Either way, this case is a major issue in Canada in regards to our own sovereignty. When Marc goes to prison in America we will never see him again and many are asking to see the bodies that justify 2000 life sentences. Here is a preview clip before you commit to the whole documentary (which appears on the flip side of this post.)
CBC documentary about Marijuana activist Marc Emery.
CBC News: The Lens
Canadian Marc Emery, Canada's most prominent marijuana legalization activist, is at the top of the U.S, Drug Enforcement Agency's 'Most Wanted List' and now faces extradition to the U.S. and possible life imprisonment. His crime - selling marijuana seeds over the Internet. An occupation he has never denied. In fact for more than a decade he has dutifully filed his income tax returns in Canada stating his occupation as "marijuana seed seller". He paid his taxes and was left alone by the Canadian authorities. However Canada's RCMP suddenly and willingly co-operated when the DEA got him in their sights...Read More on CBC...
Reader Comments ( Page 1 of 1)
1. UIt's about time the government legalised marijuana. It is ridiculous that the us government is paying to keep a weed illegal. How many people are living in jails beacause of this? How much money do we spend on this each year? Hell I bet we could probably cover the war on terror and then some-especially if we TAXED it instead! HUH? PS:I dont smoke myself, but the whole issue makes me mad every time I hear about it!-G
John at 7:22PM on Nov 1st 2007
2. surprized u kanucks would let dea beat up on you this way,eh?
coosiderating the us constitution does not give the feds the legal[de jure]authority to engage in anti-mariyuana laws,admittedly,it does have the defacto[the guns] abilility to engage in a drug war,
since americans cant stand up 4 their own rights perhaps u ppl can do it.cant beleive rcmp puts up with this,what is wrong w/you ca
-nadian that u let amerikas evil take away the rights that we both earned thru english comonlaw[and the thosands who gave their lives 4 and against each othere]
an american named benji once said"those who r wiling to give up essesential liberty 4 a little temporary safety deserve niether liberty,nor safety,
chiba at 7:12AM on Nov 6th 2007
3. I challenge the leaders of our communities, sciences, businesses, education, media, athletics and, yes, even government to come out of the closet and admit to their use of marijuana and stop this waste of resources and lives the "War on Drugs" has effectuated on our society.
Genesis1:29 at 8:30PM on Nov 1st 2007
4. Democratically elected representatives in the United States have passed laws making marijuana illegal. A Canadian citizen broke the American Law by sending drugs into the United States. You then snobbishly tell us Americans how dumb our laws are. You then complain about Canadian sovereignty. Are ALL you Canadians high? It seems to me that the only country with its sovereignty being threatened is the one having illicit drugs sent into it against its laws. For all you Canadians who are slow on the uptake, if you don’t want to end up in an American prison don’t send illegal drugs into this country. I am willing to talk to any American about what our drug laws should be, but you Canadians should just bud out.
Greg at 8:26PM on Nov 1st 2007
5. Some one wants to see the bodies that justify life sentences for this drug dealer! You can start by going out into the cities, look down the alleys and into dark doorways. Go into the suburban neighborhoods, look in the hospitals and drug clinics; stop by the schools, the juvenile detention centers and then, work your way up into all fo the state prisons. In all these places you will find broken people who got their start on drug by using Marijuana. Check the police blotters for dealers, drug addicts, and most of all victims who have been robbed, beaten or murdered so a drug user can get money to buy their drugs. There is overwhelming evidence that Marijuana is the entrance drug for the vast majaority of drug users.
No bleeding heart for drug dealers of ANY KIND, no matter where they live or what their product. Stop the seeds and you stop the planting and harvesting. We have enough broken, dead and dying people in our neighborhoods behind drugs. They need to bury him so deep that someone will have to pump daylight to him.
Makendoo at 10:23PM on Nov 1st 2007
6. @5 - According to the documentary 1/4 of the prisoners in the world in currently in American jails, and with thinking like that the percentage will continue to go up. Do you honestly think Marijuana is damaging society, you are confused because people like the DEA and RCMP refuse to acknowledge the different degrees of danger in different drugs, its very easy to package every drug in the same category, but that doesnt make it right. There are no "marijuana units" in hospitals, there are Cancer and heart disease units, no marijuana units. And anybody has a broken life because of Pot. People have broken lives because of Meth or Heroin or Crack, even prescription pills, but not pot. Nobody in the history of the world has died due to Marijuana smoking and it is incredibly sad that you want to bury this man because he sold SEEDS.
Jeff at 10:42PM on Nov 1st 2007
7. 2000 life sentences, for selling seeds, which i believe occur naturally? We're punishing people for something you don't even have to chemically alter to smoke. Unlike Cocaine, Heroin, Meth Pot doesn't have to go through a huge chemical process to create it... IT GROWS IN NATURE!!!
Oh and Greg I'm sure you'd be reasonably upset if the Canadian police started coming across the border and arresting American citizens... Unless you missed basic civics there is a thing called national sovereignty... look it up!!!
Matt at 10:58PM on Nov 1st 2007
8. Mackendoo writes that..."There is overwhelming evidence that Marijuana is the entrance drug for the vast majaority of drug users."
Mackendoo can you elaborate on that "evidence." You seem to be attempting to live in the 1950's. If you really checked the "police blotters," you would see that most of those people got on the blotters through alcohol consumption.
Draconian laws related to marijuana might make you feel good, but that's all they really accomplish.
Captain Negative at 5:15AM on Nov 2nd 2007
9. Wow these are some of the dumbest comments i've seen yet.
Makendoo You say:
"In all these places you will find broken people who got their start on drug by using Marijuana" and "There is overwhelming evidence that Marijuana is the entrance drug for the vast majaority of drug users"
Links please. I'm sure you'll have no problem supporting your claims since theres OVERWHELMING evidence.
In reality your dead wrong. The overwhelming evidence you speak of says that alcohol and tobacco are much more popular gateway drugs. Are those illegal?
Greg you say:
"A Canadian citizen broke the American Law" Thats the only thing you got right. Emery never SET FOOT in the US. So your telling me that if an American breaks a Canadian law while IN THE USA he should be sent to Canada to be punished? Ya i'm sure your government would be right on top of that. Are you high? Emery isn’t just randomly sending "drugs" into the US, Americans are buying them and they are the people that are breaking American laws.
What you dimwits don’t seem to understand is what he did IN CANADA is socially acceptable and pretty much legal. Americans bought something from another country and imported it into the US, if anyone did anything wrong its the Americans who bought it. Again since you people seem slow, HE NEVER SET FOOT IN THE USA.
plank at 9:25AM on Nov 2nd 2007
10. mackendoo has posted here before,
thoughtful and concise i might add,
but i agree with capt negative.
mackendoo has bought the sales pitch from the 40's.
look up henry anslinger.
look up america's prison population numbers and how they compare to the rest of the world,
then look up the % of how many are non-violent pot offender's.
look up availability of drugs in the US and potency since the early 70's.
how now they are easier to get,and more potent since when the "war on drugs" began.
look up the "war on drugs" budget,
and see how almost 80% is on entering and influencing other countries drug production.
look up the failure of prohibition and how that fiasco gave birth to the mafia and kennedy's.
i can go on and on,
but suffice to say this is not about pot,
its about politics and power.
and the longer people stay ignorant to the facts the easier it is to manipulate them into buying into this failed policy.
inform yourself and see this "war on drugs" for the failed, draconian policy it is.
if a person chooses to drink a glass of scotch,or smoke a joint and hurts no one,yet one is considered a crime.
how can we truly call ourselves a "free" country when we allow the government to dictate what we can and cannot do in the privacy of our own homes?
how can we demand respect for our countries laws when we ignore the sovereignty of others?
its hypocrisy at its height.
think about it.
till next time..peace.
Enoch D.D.S
enoch at 9:37AM on Nov 2nd 2007
11. Mackendoo has got to be about the stupidist poster yet bar none! If pot is the reason for all those broken live's he mention's in his reply to this blog, Lord help us all! It's like saying aspirin's lead you straight down the road to heroin addiction or if you drink one beer in your lifetime you'll become a fulltime drunk quarenteed.
rob at 3:48AM on Nov 3rd 2007
12. For Greg talking smack about our great American Drug Laws: Please, pull your head from its long time resting place and engage in some constructive conversation about the real drug problem in america, some legal which kill, and the illegal which seldom kill. At its heart is the fact you & I ARE a series of chemical actions & interactions, some good some bad. Cannabis is a plant, in & of itself no different than the millions of others on the planet. And unlike many "legal drugs" the ingestion of cannabis has never caused the death of the consumer or anyone around its ingestion, except at the hands of the US plant police. Our (Yes, I'm american) continued pissing in the wind with the effort to control mans desire to alter his state of mind, goes against the very fiber our being. Like a child at play spinning around in the yard or someone going to church, some find that joy/ release through the ingestion of a flower called cannabis. Of course there are minimal medical benefits from church (or spinning) whereas cannabis has proven itself for thousands of years to serve us well as food, energy, shelter, clothing, medicine and yes, a buzz. The sad fact is, it remains a plant with limitless potential for humankind if, we ever choose to deal with it as a plant, nothing more, nothing less, with great proven possibility for our collective betterment. Short minded words from those who know nothing of its actual effects serve little purpose except to excite a mindless base who're easily excited by words like "patriotic" or "liberals" or "socialized medicine" or other fox news headlies. The Bush administration lackies around the US have shown their true colors and they're replete with deception and a wanton disregard for all things American. Nothing they do is about freedom for americans, unless its an american corporations freedom to import cheap crap for your mindless consumption. Marc Emery was capitalism (which is out of control here) at work, could've been the poster child. See a need, and fill it. And the need is, was and remains enormous for a desire to escape, if only briefly, from our needlessly fast paced, disposable society of the selfish and self righteous. It is medicine, it will remain that way, so guess what Virginia...it doesn't matter if you believe it. So please, save the ignorant bold lettered rants about 'the children', and 'gateway drug', "smoking bad" (it doesn't have to be smoked either) and all the other tired fact-free analysis because the facts are what the facts are. It's a flower...Period. That we continue to persecute and prosecute those with it... Sad.
Smitthed at 4:44AM on Nov 3rd 2007
13. Regardless of how you feel about legalizing marijuana, this case is really chilling in a big-brother kind of way. I mean the fact that this guy is being shut away FOR LIFE for - as the DEA freely admits - advocating a way of life that is ubiquitious, frankly, ie - the growing and regular consumption of marijuana in the US - is just mind-boggling enough on its own. I mean our past 2 PRESIDENTS smoked pot fer Crissake! But what makes it tripply scary is that the DEA has the power to force Canada to extradite a man to be imprisoned for life. Can you imagine if this guy was guilty of possessing automatic weapons instead of SEEDS!!!?!?! The right would go through the roof because his second ammendment rights were violated.
Sick and frightening. A man is arrested for his opinion and his political cause, and this country has the gall to assert that it is the beacon of liberty for all the world. I thought China, Iran and Pakistan were supposed to emulate us and not vice-versa.
tg at 5:21PM on Nov 7th 2007