I'm gonna do it. I'm going to throw my two cents in about the Marc Emery case.
In case you've been living in a cave for the last few days, allow me to get you up to date.
On July 29, the Vancouver Police Department executed a search warrant on a store on West Hastings on behalf of the American Drug Enforcement Agency (DEA).
The raided building houses the headquarters of the BC Marijuana Party and as part of the raid, police searched the party's files. The DEA then sought to extradite Emery for selling seeds to Americans over the Internet.
And as of press time, the B.C. Supreme Court had granted Emery bail (with Crown prosecutors asking for denial of bail on the grounds that he's likely to re-offend - duh) and he had yet to come up with the imposed $50,000.
I've gone back and forth on my opinion of the merits of this case and can only come up with the relatively simplistic notion that I don't want the American government's campaigns being imposed upon me in my own country.
It's marijuana now, but where will it end? As Ian Mulgrew, columnist with the Vancouver Sun said, it is an "outrageous infringement of Canadian sovereignty."
In a press conference, the DEA said they targeted Emery because of his "arrogance." Emery is trying to impose political reform around marijuana laws.
If he has broken laws, it remains Canada's business to charge him.
The fact is Canadians have very different beliefs about marijuana than does the American government.
Those charged face potential life terms in U.S. federal prisons, while just days ago, the BC Court of Appeal said that a two-year sentence for growing 100 marijuana plants was too harsh, and imposed probation instead.
Canada has refused extradrition to countries where the alleged criminal faces the death penalty. We should also refuse extradition when alleged criminals face penalties we've deemed too harsh.
Especially when theso-called criminal is a Canadian citizen who was never procesuted of the alleged crime.
I vote for Canadian politicians who, I hope, will uphold my ideals. I believe a war on pot is useless and diverts money and manpower from fighting far more harmful drugs.
While the feds target pot smokers, a burgeoning meth epidemic is swamping communities everywhere. But Canadians have no control over American political zealots.
To use an Americanism, the U.S. government's behaviour is plain undemocratic.
So who's being arrogant?
