Keep Marching, Pot Crusader Says

[Urdedpal]

B.C.'S Emery Says Protests Must Go On Despite Arrests At Hamilton Cafe

Pot crusader Marc Emery says fellow activists shouldn't abandon the battle to legalize marijuana even though the owner of Hamilton's pot cafe has been charged with trafficking.

"We have to keep protesting and keep marching," Emery told about 50 people who marched to the downtown police station yesterday afternoon in the wake of Chris Goodwin's arrest.

"They are trying to wipe out our movement," the founder of the B.C. Marijuana Party said over a phone linkup from his home in Vancouver, where he is fighting extradition to the United States to face drug charges for selling pot seeds through the mail. "They're trying to intimidate us out of business."

Goodwin, owner of the Up In Smoke cafe, was arrested Wednesday and charged with possession and possession for the purpose of trafficking.

It's his latest run-in with Hamilton police, who he says have visited his business more than 300 times since he opened it in August 2004 on King Street East.

The former Liberal government talked of decriminalizing possession of small amounts of pot, but the new Conservative government rejects that position and has promised mandatory minimum jail time and large fines for serious drug offenders and a crackdown on pot growers.

Sergeant Michael Webber says police visited the downtown cafe in response to complaints from the public. A plainclothes officer saw three men passing a joint and arrested them.

Webber said officers later returned to the cafe and seized such items as a marijuana grinder, plastic bags, pipes and edible marijuana products.

A woman in the cafe was arrested and charged with similar offences to Goodwin.

Protesters marched to the station because they say Goodwin has not been released. Staff Sergeant Ray Rikic said last night Goodwin is not behind bars at the central station. He is believed to be in the Hamilton-Wentworth Detention Centre.

"Free Chris Goodwin," the crowd chanted. At least one person passed around a joint.

Source: Hamilton Spectator (CN ON)
Copyright: 2006 The Hamilton Spectator
Contact: letters@thespec.com
Website: Hamilton Spectator: Newspaper in Ontario Canada