Nobody should shed any tears for Canada’s self-proclaimed “Prince of Pot.”

Marc Emery was escorted out of B.C. Supreme Court and into jail Monday to await extradition to the U.S., where he could serve up to five years in prison for shipping marijuana seeds across the border.

Emery was indicted in 2005 along with two associates on drug and money-laundering charges stemming from a lucrative mail-order pot-seed business run out of Emery’s Vancouver book and paraphernalia shop, which doubled as B.C.’s Marijuana Party headquarters.
In March 2008, the federal government decided to turn down a plea arrangement, which would have had him serve his time in this country.

Emery repeatedly broke both Canadian and American laws. This country’s legal system did not have the gall to arrest him for openly smoking marijuana in public, selling marijuana seeds and encouraging others to break Canada’s marijuana possession laws.

Regardless of what people think about Emery’s impending jail time in the United States, nobody forced him to send his seeds across the border.

He did so willingly, knowing he was breaking the law in that country and he did it for profit, regardless of his claims of a more selfless motive.

As far as American authorities are concerned, Emery is nothing more than a drug pusher.

He could have faced life imprisonment but Emery decided to sign a plea deal for a five-year sentence in the American federal prison system.

Those who think Canada should not allow the Americans to extradite Emery need to realize that extradition treaties work both ways. They are a tool that allow Canada’s law-enforcement agents to request American authorities hand over people who may have broken Canadian law, either on our soil or theirs.

Many passionately argue that possessing pot should not be illegal.

That is not the issue in Emery’s case.

The issue is this country’s obligation to live up to the terms of the extradition treaties we have signed with the U.S. and other countries.

We certainly wouldn’t like it if an American citizen used the Internet to lure a Canadian minor into the U.S. Canadians would be outraged if American authorities refused to hand over such a person and they would rightly point to the extradition law and say the U.S. was obligated.

Let’s face it, Emery’s never-ending grandstanding created a dilemma for the Canadian government. He forced the Conservative government’s hand and may have actually helped them prove they are living up to their law-and-order election promises.

As the leader of B.C.’s Marijuana Party, it is ironic Emery has become a political pawn and not a politician in his crusade to decriminalize pot.

And make no mistake about it, he is a pawn in the political chess game waged by liberals and conservatives on both sides of the 49th parallel.

It was the previous American administration, led by George W. Bush, that indicted Emery in 2005. Bush was first elected to office in 2001.

Emery started selling his seeds across the line for many years before that.

To make matters worse for the pot crusader, a few months after the Americans issued their indictment, Stephen Harper was elected prime minister.

Still, he continued to put himself in the spotlight, daring authorities to do something about his blatant disregard for both countries’ drug laws. Emery led rallies in Vancouver and urged others across the world to partake of his favourite weed.

His misguided supporters consider him a martyr for the cause of marijuana decriminalization. He is nothing of the sort. Emery is a calculating businessman who flouted the law.

His punishment should be a surprise to no one.

http://www.canada.com/nanaimodailynews/

Single marijuana seeds from all the top seed banks.