letter to the editor
My Husband Shouldn't Be in A US Jail
Re: A Notable Defector In The War On Pot, Sept. 10.
Chris Selley claims my husband Marc Emery sold seeds to Americans for profit, but Marc was never selling seeds for personal gain. His purpose was to finance drug policy reform, and he was tremendously successful at it. The Drug Enforcement Administration made clear that they targeted Marc as “the founder of a marijuana legalization group” due to his money being “channelled to marijuana legalization groups active in the U.S. and Canada” and his arrest was “a significant blow to the marijuana legalization movement.”
Read more »LTE By Loretta Nall, Published in the National Post
Read more »By: Loretta Nall, National Post
While I agree with most of Chris Selley’s column, I take exception to his assertion: “However asinine, the law’s the law.”I live in Alabama, where it used to be legal to own a slave and illegal to help a slave gain freedom. We also had Jim Crow laws that prevented blacks and poor whites from taking part in the political process. None of those laws were just and, everyone who had the courage to break them were true heroes, as is [marijuana activist] Marc Emery.
An ineffective way to fight crime
Re: Why we’re tough on crime, Aug. 13.Public Safety Minister Vic Toews insists that the prison farms had to close because they cost $4-million to operate and, by his account, were worthless because inmates didn’t get jobs on farms after release.
Yet he somehow tries to justify the expansion of old and new prisons, without admitting the cost will be well into $9 Billion and much higher over time, even though that clearly proves there will be more people imprisoned at an alarming rate, not more people rehabilitated and reintegrated into society.
WHAT'S NOT TO UNDERSTAND ABOUT CANADA'S DRUG LAWS?
Wayne Phillips, Kamloops Daily News
Regarding Cheech and Chong, Just Say So Long ( We Say editorial, The Daily News, July 20 ).
And turning Marc Emery over to the Americans was a great display of national sovereignty, right? "Bitchfest," indeed!
What gives them the right, the editorial asks! Probably the same right that allowed the editorial staff to comment on Cheech and Chong's candour.
MARC EMERY IS A 'POLITICAL PRISONER'
Brett Ryan Book, Grand River Sachem
I'm writing to voice my displeasure with Stephen Harper's Conservative government.
The recent extradition of activist Marc Emery to the United States of America is a complete travesty to our sovereignty and a chilling warning of the future to come.
What kind of government sends a peaceful man to a foreign prison for a crime that we here neglect to punish him with?
The crime in question is selling marijuana seeds online, a thriving business that Marc Emery used to help support legalization efforts worldwide, and a business that Mr. Emery had legally claimed with Revenue Canada.
Despite what recent media reports would have you believe, Marc Emery did NOT keep his millions of dollars.
INCONSISTENT JUSTICE
Ellie O'Day, The Province
It seems rather inconsistent that the Canadian government would extradite Marc Emery to the U.S. for selling marijuana seeds for something considered a misdemeanour in Canada.
And yet, after a decade, it stubbornly will not extradite Canadians alleged to have ordered the killing of their own daughter/ niece in India.
Ellie O'Day,
Vancouver
EMERY'S ISOLATION HIGHLIGHTS PROBLEMS
Grant Maxwell, Nanaimo Daily News
So Marc Emery, that arch villain, is now in solitary confinement. The wrong-wingers will no doubt state that this needless excess is due to his post 'confinement' activities.
Our MP James Lunney won't answer his door and Justice Minister Rob Nicholson sold us out to bullies.
Once again I suggest a 45-gallon drum of testosterone to every Tory, followed by five gallons of Ritalin. I'm sure their response will be to call the yellow stripes.
Grant Maxwell
Nanaimo
EMERY'S RIGHTS DENIED
Michael J. Dee, Langley Advance
Dear Editor,
I do not know about Canada, but in the United States, law enforcement officials who under the colour of law deprive individuals their rights is a crime.
In response to Matthew Claxton [Stoners need better arguments, April 30 Painful Truth, Langley Advance], the Canadian and American judiciary have reviewed the marijuana laws by rational review.
Rational review is used by the courts when no fundamental rights are affected by the law. Judicial review of these criminal laws by rational review is deprivation of rights under the colour of law.
Poor Mark Emery is not recognized as a person; neither am I. He is being deprived of his liberty for political reasons.
TIME TO RETHINK MARIJUANA LAWS
Jody Wynen, St. Louis Post-Dispatch
Last week there was a very brief article on the extradition and arrest of Canadian citizen Marc Emery for the charge that he sold millions of cannabis seeds to U.S. customers.
I must admit that I was more than disappointed that the Saint Louis Post gave this so little coverage.
It is outrageous to threaten a non US citizen with prison time merely for the crime of selling of marijuana seeds when there are so many other offenses that our limited resources could be used to pursue, especially when so many States have decriminalized and legalized the medical use of cannabis.
Throughout the United States, and even within Missouri, we as a nation are reevaluating how we think about cannabis.
CANADA'S ROLE IN EMERY'S ARREST
BERT LOEHNER, Vancouver Sun
Re: Emery pleads guilty to conspiracy to manufacture marijuana, May 25
U.S. prosecutor Jenny Durkan boldly states, "Today Marc Emery acknowledged he broke the law." What she doesn't state is he broke U.S. law and was never in the U.S. He was in the sovereign nation of Canada, where this crime would most likely garner a fine, rather than 30 years to life in a federal prison.
Marc Emery is a political pain in the ass. He is vocal and pushes the law to its limit to advance his cause. In the process, he gives B.C. residents endless political entertainment. If anything, he is the Clown Prince of Pot.
Let's face it, the massive U.S. antidrug army has caught an easy target. The mere fact he voluntarily surrendered to authorities shows he is not the drug lord U.S. authorities claim.
