anyone pro marc emery?

[JustAnotherStayAtHomeDad]

http://www.cannabisculture.com/articles/4471.html

 

[Puppet]

Yea Daddy. Great idea. Let's have a country above us and a country below us that drive prices up for the US. They can have territorial wars. Canada gets the upper half of the states and Mexico gets the lower half. If Canada steps into Georgia then Mexico sends some terrorists to Quebec.....you get the picture.

 

[psychonaut13]

what does all that have to do with keeping canada from letting the US have this cat to try him on charges that were NOT committed on US soil?

 

[JustAnotherStayAtHomeDad]

Kirk Tousaw
Special to the Vancouver Sun

The attempt to extradite BC Marijuana Party leader Marc Emery to the United States has significant ramifications for marijuana reform efforts in Canada and, indeed, throughout North America.

Emery was a part of virtually every significant effort at changing our approach to marijuana over the last decade. Much to the ire of the U.S. Drug Enforcement Agency, Emery has funded political candidates, court challenges, educational conferences and grass-roots initiatives in Canada and across various U.S. cities and states.

Because of this political activism, the DEA targeted Emery. In his post-arrest press conference, U.S. Attorney Jeff Sullivan expressed disgust with Emery's "overwhelming arrogance" and gloated that the U.S. would no longer have to listen to him.

These comments were followed by a virtual admission of the political motivation behind the prosecution from Karen Tandy, the head of the DEA, who claimed the arrest of "Emery, the publisher of Cannabis Culture magazine and founder of a marijuana legalization group is a significant blow to...the marijuana legalization movement."

Under the Extradition Act, the Justice Minister Irwin Cotler must refuse to extradite if it appears that the criminal prosecution, no matter how factually valid, is politically motivated. The U.S. has the same right, exercising it in 2001 to refuse to extradite O.J. Pitawanakwat to Canada to stand trial for his role in the 1995 Gustafson Lake standoff, which featured two months of armed conflict between aboriginal protesters and the Royal Canadian Mounted Police. Given Tandy's comments, the political nature of the attack on Emery is clear.

Far from clear, however, is whether Tandy was correct in her assessment of the impact on marijuana reform efforts. Emery is a lightning rod, whose arrest should have a galvanizing effect on reformers on both sides of the border. The other activists facing U.S. extradition are Michelle Rainey, who uses marijuana to control Crohn's disease, and Greg Williams, a soft-spoken and articulate expert on all things marijuana. Both are sympathetic figures. They hardly resemble, in appearance or demeanour, the international drug kingpins that the DEA apparently believes them to be.

The extradition proceedings will be played out against an interesting political backdrop. Parliament returns in the fall with marijuana legislation still waiting for a vote two years after its introduction. Canadians will remember that the U.S. drug warriors have already flexed their political muscles on this issue, throwing up the red herring of potential tension at the border if Canada liberalizes pot laws.

A federal election also looms, providing Emery and other reformers with a perfect opportunity to demonstrate the proven failure of prohibition. Ironically, nowhere is that failure more evident than the U.S., which, over the last decade, has shifted the focus of its drug war from cocaine and heroin to marijuana.

In America, marijuana is public enemy number one. Yet, despite hundreds of thousands of annual arrests, exceedingly harsh prison sentences, and the expenditure of an estimated $4 billion US annually, America has seen no decline in either the number of marijuana consumers or the amount of marijuana available on the streets. There is no prohibition success story.

In pursuit of its reefer madness policies, the U.S. imposes lengthy jail sentences on those convicted of marijuana offences. This is significant because the Extradition Act requires the justice minister to refuse extradition if the person will face unjust or oppressive penalties. If extradited, Emery, Rainey and Williams face a minimum of 10 years and a maximum of life without the possibility of parole.

In Canada, by contrast, Emery's last seed conviction netted him a small fine. And that was almost a decade ago, when public attitudes to marijuana were less tolerant than today. Since then, Canadian public opinion has liberalized significantly, and the courts have taken note.

The B.C. Court of Appeal recently decided, quite appropriately, that a two-year sentence for growing marijuana worth an estimated $100,000 was "harsh and excessive," imposing a non-custodial conditional sentence instead. If incarceration is not a just sentence for growing the plants, surely the Canadian conscience is shocked by the prospect of life prison terms for selling the seeds.

Canadians might also be shocked at the price of prosecuting the Prince of Pot. The Canadian taxpayer will foot the bill for the multi-year legal battle and may grow tired of paying. After all, Canada does not really seem to consider Emery a criminal. The ministry of health suggested that patients buy marijuana seeds from Internet vendors like Emery. Ottawa accepted hundreds of thousands of dollars in taxes from marijuana seed sales. And most Canadians think, rightly, that police have more important things to do than enforce marijuana laws.

Emery's arrest has galvanized activists across Canada. And many Canadians who care nothing about marijuana appear deeply concerned about increasing American intervention into our domestic political issues. If the furore over this case expands beyond the cannabis community, the DEA may have inadvertently set into motion a chain of events that will culminate in real marijuana law reform. And that would be a delicious irony indeed.

Kirk Tousaw is campaign manager for the BC Marijuana Party.

Contact: sunletters@png.canwest.com

vancouversun

 

[JustAnotherStayAtHomeDad]

It's High Time to Weed out Marijuana Misconceptions
By Skye Butters

In recent news the debate over marijuana continues, but now Canada’s sovereignty has also been thrown into the mix with the Marc Emery case. Under orders from US officials, Canadian police raided the British Columbia Marijuana Party office on the morning of July 29. The search warrants were authorized by the US-Canada law enforcement pact – Mutual Legal Assistance in Criminal Matters Treaty (MLAT). While traveling to a hemp festival in Halifax, Marc Emery, the leader of the party; Michelle Rainey, the party’s vice-president; and activist Greg Williams were arrested by Canadian police upon US extradition orders.

How can the Mutual Legal Assistance in Criminal Matters Treaty play a role in this case when Canada does not treat selling seeds and marijuana activism as a criminal offence? Technically, selling seeds is a criminal offense in Canada, but it is not treated as such. Instead, the Canadian government has been easing up on drug policies concerning cannabis. The recent Bill C-10 decriminalizes small time pot use and toughens up against commercial growers and dealers. Furthermore, we are the first country to regulate the medicinal use of marijuana, and Marc Emery is a forerunner in this movement.

Because Health Canada does not have the resources to supply seeds to medicinal users who have the exemption to grow, Health Canada refers these patients to seed selling web sites. How can we consider Marc Emery’s seed selling website a commercial grower and dealer when Health Canada recommends their patients to seek out other options?

Of course Marc Emery’s seed selling web site is not restricted to medical users. Keep in mind, however, that the special Senate Committee on Illegal Drugs released its final report which recommended that the government make smoking pot legal and wipe clean the records of anyone convicted of possession.

Furthermore, Senator Pierre Claude Nolin is reported as stating, “Scientific evidence overwhelmingly indicates that cannabis is substantially less harmful than alcohol and should be treated not as a criminal issue but as a social and public health issueâ€. This can be found right on the CBC website, folks – have a look at the article entitled Marijuana in Depth.

Now, if you’re still not sold on the marijuana movement, whether it be medicinal or recreational, put this in your pipe and smoke it: How can the Canadian Government justifiably issue warrants of arrest for Marc Emery while Revenue Canada has unobjectionably received $400,000 from Marc Emery’s business in taxes over the past decade?

The last, and certainly not the least issue pressing on this case is of course Canadian sovereignty. If, despite all of these arguments, citizens still believe that selling seeds is a criminal offense then let our own Government hold Marc Emery responsible. We certainly don’t need Uncle Sam in here treading on our turf and fighting a war against marijuana that doesn’t exist in this country.

We have to remember that Canadian values, beliefs and customs differ widely from the US, and our laws reflect this. We don’t deny people equal rights based on sexual preferences. We don’t turn our prison systems and health care into private money-making corporations. We don’t invade other countries for economic gain. And we certainly don’t hold onto the racist ideologies, and unscientific baloney that made pot illegal in the first place.

For the legal debate of marijuana we have Emily Murphy and Harry Anslinger to thank. Emily Murphy, was the celebrated leader of the Famous Five and first female Canadian Magistrate. She was monumental in the women’s suffrage movement, by making women legal persons. Despite her feminist activism, she also spearheaded the 1920s anti-narcotic campaign with her book Black Candle which has profoundly affected our drug policies.

The interesting thing about Emily Murphy is that her feminist activism was predominantly for white middle class women, and she associated drug use with minorities. Her book Black Candle is a compilation of drug prohibition pieces, many of which have blatant racist overtones.

She describes the Black community in this passage: “Many Negroes are law-abiding and altogether estiminable, but contrariwise, many are obstinately wicked persons, earning their livelihood as freeranging pedlars (sic) of poisonous drugs.†Within this same work, she also refers Chinese people as “black haired beats in our human jungle.â€

She also believed that “aliens of colour†will “bring about the degeneration of the white race†through drug trafficking. In the multi-cultural society of Canada, it is clear to informed citizens that education and social economic status are factors in crime and not race. So why are we holding on to obsolete laws that were motivated by racism?

Some more racist propaganda concerning cannabis was put forth by Harry Anslinger, Father of the Drug War and Commissioner of the US Bureau of Narcotics (1930-62). He was a fundamental player in the 1937 Marijuana Tax Stamp Act, which prohibits the possession or use of marijuana.

It is interesting to note that Anslinger had connections with the Hearsts of Hearst Newspapers and the Duponts of Dupont Plastic (hemp seed oil threatened this industry). Many speculate that Anslinger collaborated with Hearst to publish invented stories about how marijuana induces “insanity, criminality and deathâ€.

Similar to Murphy, Anslinger also associated marijuana users with minority groups in this statement: "There are 100,000 total marijuana smokers in the US, and most are Negroes, Hispanics, Filipinos, and entertainers. Their Satanic music, jazz, and swing, result from marijuana use. This marijuana causes white women to seek sexual relations with Negroes, entertainers, and any others."

When we are confronted with historical quotations such as these from Murphy and Anslinger, we often laugh and disregard them as outdated nonsense.

Even though Marc Emery’s case is not directly linked to the overt racism found in Murphy and Anslinger’s careers, it is important to remember that people like Murphy and Anslinger are influencing our legal system today. It is time that we make positive and informed changes in our legal system, and to do that we need to understand how our laws are born. Why hang on to outdated, obsolete and racially motivated laws? And furthermore, let’s make these decisions as a sovereign nation without the US interfering.

Here are some things that you can do to make a difference. You can Contact Justice Minister Irwin Cotler directly at these phone numbers:
514-283-0170, 613-995-0121, 613-992-4621. Don’t e-mail, because messages can be easily ignored or deleted. You can also make a donation to the BC Marijuana Party. Signing the petition to free Marc Emery on the web site http://www.petitiononline.com/Emery/petition.html will also make a difference.

couple Candaian views about what the US is atempting.

 

[blze]

i will probably read all of that......sike!

 

[eggs]

i will probably read all of that......sike!

what blz said.
ill just type about a different topic instead of reading all of this one ....
yea i turn 23 Thursday August 18th...
gonna get toe the fuck up !!!! w00t w00t !!!

 

[JustAnotherStayAtHomeDad]

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