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Extradition hearing date for Canada's so-called 'Prince of Pot' postponed
Jeremy Hainsworth Seattle Post Intelligencer
Thursday 09 Mar 2006 VANCOUVER, British Columbia -- A Canadian marijuana activist wanted by U.S. authorities to face drug charges said Thursday he believes that being profiled on CBS's "60 Minutes" has increased support for dropping the charges against him on both sides of the border. "Its my job as leader of the cannabis culture to thwart the United States government," Marc Emery, Canada's so-called Prince of Pot, told The Associated Press outside the B.C. Supreme Court. "The American government and their war on drugs has got to Kafkaesque extremes." Emery, of Vancouver, is charged with conspiracy to launder money and distribute marijuana and marijuana seeds, according to the U.S. attorney's office. Conviction on the charges would carry a sentence of at least 10 years in prison. He appeared at the B.C. Supreme Court on Thursday to set a date for the start of extradition proceedings, but the hearing was adjourned to April 6. Emery's battle with U.S. and Canadian authorities was highlighted on the popular television show, "60 Minutes" last Sunday. John McKay, the U.S. Attorney for the Western District of Washington, told CBS correspondent Bob Simon that Emery was the "biggest purveyor of marijuana from Canada into the United States." Emery told Simon that while he's fighting his extradition to the United States, he's resigned to the possibility of prison and being a martyr for the legalization struggle. "I am blessed by what the DEA has done," Emery said. "Id rather see marijuana legalized than me being saved from a U.S. jail." Emery says he's made $15 million over the last decade selling marijuana seeds online and by mail, along with equipment for grow operations and instructions on raising pot plants. Kirk Tousaw, one of Emery's lawyer, said his client never sold any marijuana, only seeds. A U.S. undercover operative tried to get Emery to sell some marijuana but he refused, Tousaw said. Emery was arrested by the Royal Canadian Mounted Police last August after Vancouver police raided his marijuana seed and paraphernalia store in downtown Vancouver. Police arrested two other people, Gregory Williams and Michelle Rainey. All three are wanted in the United States on charges of conspiracy to manufacture marijuana, distribute seeds and engage in money laundering. Rainey said she is licensed in Canada to carry medicinal marijuana for her Crohns disease. "I don't know why the United States government is deciding what medicine is good for me," Rainey said outside the courthouse on Thursday. The three - all of whom are free on bail - were indicted by a U.S. federal grand jury in Seattle last May, after an 18-month investigation into the sale of marijuana seeds on the Internet and by mail. The indictment came out of Seattle because DEA officials there led the investigation, and there was evidence that Emery committed some crimes in Washington. Emerys Vancouver store, The Tokers Bowl, doubles as the headquarters of the political British Columbia Marijuana Party, which Emery heads up.
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