Charging Emery May Keep Him Here

[SirBlazinBowl]

A Vancouver philanthropist is to file drug charges today against pot activist Marc Emery and two associates in an attempt to throw a wrench into an American bid to extradite them on marijuana charges. "If he gets charged in Canada that will have major legal consequences for that extradition request," said David McCann. McCann said he has hired lawyer Peter Leask to file three charges of conspiracy under the Controlled Drugs and Substance Act and the Criminal Code of Canada. McCann said Canada has been hypocritical in allowing Emery to sell pot seeds and collect thousands of dollars in taxes while the City of Vancouver gave him a business licence for his pot-paraphernalia store.

"We have let him operate and now we let the Americans walk into our country and charge a man who they will probably lock away for the rest of his natural life in the United States for doing something that the government of Canada condoned. And you know, I got a problem with that as a Canadian." Emery, along with Michelle Rainey-Fenkarek and Greg Keith Williams, were arrested July 29 after police raided Emery's store following an 18-month investigation by the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration.
"He broke the law in Canada, so if we are going to let him be charged, he should be charged here, where he did the offence," said McCann, adding he's never met Emery.

McCann noted that Health Canada has referred patients, many of them terminally ill, to Emery if they wanted medicinal marijuana. Emery said he sees McCann's private-prosecution attempt as positive. "His intent is to stop the extradition and have me charged under Canadian law in a Canadian courtroom," Emery said.

Newshawk: SirBlazinBowl - [url]420Times.com[url]
Source: Province, The (CN BC)
Copyright: 2005 The Canadian Press
Contact: provletters@png.canwest.com
Website: http://www.canada.com/vancouver/theprovince/
Author: Canadian Press