Well-known Vancouver pot activist Marc Emery arrested in extradition bid by U.S.

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Columbian Connection

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Here is some news that just came over the wire and is rather depressing.

VANCOUVER (CP) - Well-known Canadian pot activist Marc Emery and two others should be extradited to the United States to face several marijuana charges, says information contained in a search warrant sought by the United States and granted by a B.C. court.
The raid on Emery's pot paraphernalia store in downtown Vancouver began in the late morning and involved several uniformed and plainclothes city police officers.
The police presented a search warrant, issued by Associate Chief Justice Patrick Dohm of B.C. Supreme Court, that said the U.S. made its request under a treaty that deals with matters under the Mutual Legal Assistance in Criminal Matters Act.

The U.S. alleges Emery - described in the search warrant as the Prince of Pot - Gregory Keith Williams and Michelle Rainey-Fenkarek conspired to manufacture marijuana, to distribute marijuana seeds and conspired to engage in money laundering.

Emery, who is also leader of the B.C. Marijuana party, was not at the store when it was raided but U.S. justice officials said he was arrested earlier Friday in Halifax by the RCMP.

Williams and Rainey-Fenkarek were arrested by police in Vancouver, Jeff Sullivan, chief of the criminal division of the U.S. Attorney's Office, told a news conference in Seattle.

In Vancouver, Const. Howard Chow was asked to explain at a news conference why city police didn't arrest and charge Emery without needing a U.S. request.

"This is information that came to us (from the U.S.) about a year ago and investigations take time," said Chow.

Chow acknowledged that Emery's operation has been known to city police for several years.

"You can't expect to fly under the radar without being held accountable. Distribution of pot is illegal in the U.S. as it is here in Canada."

Chow reiterated that it was information from the U.S., not its own officers, that prompted the execution of the search warrant.

"This is good, substantive information that we received from the U.S. government that precipitated this investigation. If we had any other information that we received on anyone else our drug squad would have checked into that as well."

The U.S. wants the trio extradited on the charges after they were indicted by a federal grand jury in May following an 18-month investigation by American police into the sale of marijuana seeds on the Internet and by mail, said Sullivan.

Rod Benson, the special agent in charge of the Drug Enforcement Agency in Seattle, told the news conference that Emery showed "overwhelming arrogance and abuse of the rule of law," which he said "will no longer be on display or tolerated."

"The message here is clear," he said, "those engaged in the cultivation, and trafficking of illegal drugs will eventually pay a steep price."

None of the accused has had an opportunity to respond to the charges, which must still be proven in court.

A conviction on the charges carries a sentence ranging from 10 years to life in prison, said Sullivan.



He said Emery's business selling seeds - which has been in operation since 1994 - makes about $3 million US a year.

Emery, 46, was released from jail in Saskatoon last October after three months in jail for passing a joint at a pot rally in the city earlier in 2004.

While it was Emery's eleventh drug-related conviction, it was the first time he had been sentenced to jail.

The store that was raided, named Toker's Bowl, sells pot paraphernalia and pot-growing literature and the smell of marijuana often wafts through the premises.

Several people gathered outside the store to protest the raid, many holding anti-American signs.

Police sealed off the store and covered the windows with paper while they conducted their search.

The search warrant sets out a long list of requests made by the United States to the Vancouver police department. It asks police to seize cash and receipts, client lists and other records identifying purchasers of goods from Emery, and employee records, including applications for employment. It also asks for business and company incorporation documents, leases, rental agreements, computers, hard drives, diskettes and CD-ROMS.
 
Just a note, and food for thought. I hope he tossed his reciepts away for anyone he sold seeds to in the USA. If not big brother is gonna come a knockin.
 
Makes me angry, These retards, ( those members of OUR legal systems) are constantly breaking the very law they claim to uphold. They will take everything away from someone for, paticipating in a market, their crazy "law" created. Why cant they realize that you cant force your opinion on people? hurry up and evolve monkeys!!!!! we have actuall problems to deal with, uh like saving the planet. well even though mark emery never sent me my seeds, that i paid for,(coulda been the mail man) I hope he has a way out of this, and cool heads will prevail. thanx for the thread c.c.
 
I'm thanking my lucky stars I have never ordered from them right now. They were an option I was thinking about. It's sad to hear something like this could even happen. I feel sorry for any US consumer that used a credit card to order seeds. I feel many many busts coming on in the US.
 
His website is also closed down, I bet he looses a lot of revenue now.

But many bad things i've heard from his seed company and he's very expensive with his strains and even doesn't ship the seeds in original breeders packs.
 
It really sucks that the Canadian gov't rolled over and submitted the way it did, while I'm no fan of Marcs this is bad for all of us, everywhere.
I've never ordered from Marc (thankfully) but I have seen Marc threaten growers and breeders alike with the fact that he had all their personal information on file and he'd turn it over to the authorities if they didn't stop complaining about how he handled their products. This being said, I'd advise anyone currently growing with anything they've ordered from his sites to WATCH YOUR ASSES!!! The feds (Canadian and US) have taken ME's and his businesses computers and hard copies of all paperwork he had both at his businesses and his home...
It's a sad day for us all......
Karma (and the US gov't) has finally caught up with Marc, the pot charges will go away but the money laundering and tax evasion charges brought down someone like Al Capone when nothing else could, what chance does Marc have????
 
Here is something I would like to mention. It was an answer to a question regarding if the US can do this and why has the Canadian Government not done this before now. He also made a statement of "U.S. seed buyers should be safe since he shreds his paperwork." Even though these were not asked yet I feel this would be a good addition to this post. My answers are below.

I don't think selling seeds in Canada is a crime. What is a crime is selling them to any country that it is a crime. That then becomes drug smuggling. That is a crime in Canada. Until just recently selling, having seeds like in the USA was a crime in Canada.

He says he destroys the paperwork. We will see. Destroying paperwork sounds like smuggling to me. On top of that no paperwork means tax evasion on sales. This will be an Interesting case to follow.

I know the Governments are not blind to this. Since he is a high profile person he will be made an example of for all the other seeds companies out there. Buying seeds over the internet just got more complicated and dangerous. Narcs will be buying seeds from the States, and will be shutting down anyone that sells to them. It is only a matter of time.
 
From now on the best way to get hold of seeds is to go direct to Nl which is a legal place for seeds and cultivation,and 90%of the time you know you will get what you pay for,unless those hipcrytical B******* in the the us gov can persuede the dutch gov the raid shops there and extradite for "drug smuggling" with seeds,which i cant see how a seed is drug.IT IS NOT.it has to be PROVED that the seed was to be cultivated.That crazy us gov do what ever they want,where ever they want,maybe the nl will not be safe.They try to control us every way they can
 
i hope they hang that son of a ditch,,,,,,marc emery would charge top dollar for seeds of a great strain ,,then would send you something other than the seeds you wanted ,,,,i and 3 other people who play the game ordered jack herer and were sent something other then jack,,,i am glad they are going to extradite him i hope they thro the book at that bastard,,,nice to see my tax dollars hard at work ,,,,,,,i would love to see that little Canadian fagot in a u.s prison ,,,i need to stop ,i get very upset when talking about marc emery ,,,,deep breath ,,,,,,as always peace,love,rastafari
 
ya,,,,i think i got pissed then too,,,,,,p,l,r
 

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