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August 6, 2005
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It's not as if "Prince of Pot" Marc Emery wasn't asking for it. Taunt Uncle Sam long enough, and the long arm of the U.S. law is bound to try to wrestle you into submission.
Five years ago, the mouthy Vancouver activist boasted that he was "the world's most famous and well-known marijuana-seed seller."
Two weeks ago, he expressed dismay that a cross-border tunnel built to smuggle pot into the U.S. was shut down when U.S. officials busted three B.C. men allegedly transporting the first load of weed.
"It will remind Americans that we're producing pot, and we're trying to get it to them in any way possible," said Emery, founder of the B.C. Marijuana party.
Could he possibly be any more provocative? He's openly admitted for years to selling marijuana seeds to Americans. He practically dared the U.S. authorities to hunt him down.
If he'd restricted his seed-selling business to Canadians, no one would have given a hoot. Although he was convicted of trafficking in 1998 after Vancouver police raided his marijuana store and mail-order operation, he never went to jail.
Sure, he was jailed for three months last year for trafficking for passing a joint at a rally in Saskatchewan, but that's an anomaly.
We pretend to take marijuana cultivation and trafficking seriously in Canada simply to keep up appearances. The lenient sentences, however, prove that we don't particularly care if Canadians grow or sell pot (or smoke it, for that matter.)
As a study of B.C. grow-ops observed earlier this year, few pot growers actually go to jail. The ones that do get an average sentence of only five months and the fines for trafficking are small.
It's insane that our police and prosecutors spend so much time and resources sniffing out and prosecuting marijuana offenders when their behaviour is considered more a nuisance than a crime.
We refuse to legalize pot - the sensible solution - because we're afraid to be a North American trailblazer in drug reform. Yet, we don't have the heart to seriously penalize pot offenders. What hypocrites we are.
The obstinate U.S. approach to the war on drugs is also insane but at least the Americans are consistent. They believe pot is a scourge and, by God, they follow through.
People convicted of growing or distributing pot in the U.S. receive a minimum sentence of 10 years in jail.
Now Canada has been placed in an awkward situation. Emery was arrested by the RCMP at the request of U.S. authorities under a mutual-assistance treaty.
U.S. law enforcement officials want Emery and two other individuals extradited to the United States to face charges that include conspiracy to manufacture marijuana and distribute marijuana seeds.
Where it gets awkward is how we will be able to justify extraditing Emery and his two co-accused to the U.S. to face a possible sentence that the Supreme Court of Canada has already deemed unfair.
Canada used to have a seven-year minimum sentence for the import and export of illegal drugs. But our high court struck that law down in the 1980s.
If Justice Minster Irwin Cotler refuses to extradite Emery, he risks the wrath of the U.S. (Well, big deal.) But if he agrees to surrender Emery to the Americans, the "Prince of Pot" could appeal to the Supreme Court of Canada, which would likely quash the extradition order.
Meanwhile, here's some food for thought. According to the U.S. Criminal Justice Policy Foundation, there are between 400,000 and 500,000 people in U.S. jails for drug offences - more than all the prisoners in the European Union.
Also, a U.S. report released in May noted that the war on drugs has become a "war on marijuana."
Pot arrests in the U.S. increased by 113% between 1990 and 2002 while non-marijuana arrests rose by only 10%, the study by the Sentencing Project found.
The U.S. spends $4 billion a year arresting, prosecuting and incarcerating marijuana offenders.
As for pot, the price has dropped, potency has increased and use has gone up.