midwestbluntman
01-14-2008, 04:15 AM
VANCOUVER - Marc Emery, Vancouver's self-styled Prince of Pot, has tentatively agreed to a five-year prison term in a plea bargain over U.S. money laundering and marijuana seed-selling charges.
Facing an extradition hearing Jan. 21 and the all-but-certain prospect of delivery to American authorities, Emery has cut a deal with U.S. prosecutors to serve his sentence in Canada.
He also hopes it will save his two co-accused - Michelle Rainey and Greg Williams.
The three were arrested in August 2005 at the request of the United States and charged even though none had ventured south of the border.
Since then, they have been awaiting the extradition hearing.
With the proceedings about to begin, Emery says his lawyer brokered the best deal possible.
If accepted by the courts in both countries, Emery said he will serve the full term and not be eligible for Canada's lenient get-out-of-jail-early rules.
"I'm going to do more time than many violent, repeat offenders," he complained. "There isn't a single victim in my case, no one who can stand up and say, 'I was hurt by Marc Emery.' No one."
The last time Emery was convicted in Canada of selling pot seeds, back in 1998, he was given a $2,000 fine.
Emery has flouted the law for more than a decade and every year he sends his seed catalogue to politicians of every stripe.
He has run in federal, provincial and civic elections promoting his pro-cannabis platform.
He has championed legal marijuana at parliamentary hearings, on national television, at celebrity conferences, in his own magazine, Cannabis Culture, and on his own Internet channel, Pot TV.
Health Canada even recommended medical marijuana patients buy their seeds from Emery.
From 1998 until his arrest, Emery even paid provincial and federal taxes as a "marijuana seed vendor" totalling nearly $600,000.
Facing an extradition hearing Jan. 21 and the all-but-certain prospect of delivery to American authorities, Emery has cut a deal with U.S. prosecutors to serve his sentence in Canada.
He also hopes it will save his two co-accused - Michelle Rainey and Greg Williams.
The three were arrested in August 2005 at the request of the United States and charged even though none had ventured south of the border.
Since then, they have been awaiting the extradition hearing.
With the proceedings about to begin, Emery says his lawyer brokered the best deal possible.
If accepted by the courts in both countries, Emery said he will serve the full term and not be eligible for Canada's lenient get-out-of-jail-early rules.
"I'm going to do more time than many violent, repeat offenders," he complained. "There isn't a single victim in my case, no one who can stand up and say, 'I was hurt by Marc Emery.' No one."
The last time Emery was convicted in Canada of selling pot seeds, back in 1998, he was given a $2,000 fine.
Emery has flouted the law for more than a decade and every year he sends his seed catalogue to politicians of every stripe.
He has run in federal, provincial and civic elections promoting his pro-cannabis platform.
He has championed legal marijuana at parliamentary hearings, on national television, at celebrity conferences, in his own magazine, Cannabis Culture, and on his own Internet channel, Pot TV.
Health Canada even recommended medical marijuana patients buy their seeds from Emery.
From 1998 until his arrest, Emery even paid provincial and federal taxes as a "marijuana seed vendor" totalling nearly $600,000.