“My husband is a Canadian citizen who never crossed the border, yet he has been charged and punished in a foreign country. This should be very disturbing to Canadians. Marc is a political prisoner. He shouldn’t be sent to the USA at all.”
By Jacob Hunter –
On Saturday, September 19, 2009, people all over the world rallied in support of ‘Prince of Pot’ Marc Emery, a marijuana activist and magazine publisher who is facing a 5-year prison sentence in the United States for selling marijuana seeds over the Internet.
More than 100 cities across the globe will host demonstrations to protest Emery’s imprisonment, due to take place at 9am on September 28 at the BC Supreme Court (800 Smithe St.), when the embattled BC Marijuana Party leader will surrender into the custody of authorities to await extradition to the US.
“Free Marc Emery” rallies are planned in many major cities and small towns in Canada and the US, and in countries abroad including Germany, South Africa, Denmark, Ireland, Austria, Peru, Norway and the UK.
“Thousands of people around the world have been positively affected by Marc and his message, and will come together on September 19 to demand his freedom,” said Marc’s wife Jodie Emery, policing critic for the BC Green Party and a candidate for the Greens in the upcoming federal election.
“My husband is a Canadian citizen who never crossed the border, yet he has been charged and punished in a foreign country. This should be very disturbing to Canadians. Marc is a political prisoner. He shouldn’t be sent to the USA at all.”
In 2005, the US Drug Enforcement Administration and Vancouver Police raided and closed Emery’s successful seed business, which had been running openly for 11 years with few complaints from Canadian authorities.
A DEA press release issued at the time of his arrest makes note that Emery used millions of dollars generated from his seed company and magazine, Cannabis Culture, to fund drug-reform activism and marijuana legalization groups.
“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,” the release by DEA chief Karen Tandy reads. “Drug legalization lobbyists now have one less pot of money to rely on.”
Emery’s supporters say this is clear evidence that his arrest was politically motivated.
“This politically motivated extradition, specifically forbidden by the Extradition Act, is yet another example of the Conservative Government’s disregard for the law,” said Vancouver rally organizer Jacob Hunter of the Beyond Prohibition Foundation. “The message from the government is clear: Canadians who oppose Harper’s radical agenda
could wind up in a foreign prison.”