Update: (We have just learned that he has been extradited as of 1:00pm today)

May 10, 2010 – Calling himself a “great Canadian” who has spent his life advocating for the legalization of marijuana, the self-styled “Prince of Pot” turned himself in Monday morning to face possible extradition to the United States.

Marc Emery’s fate now lies in the hands of the federal justice minister, who must sign off on Mr. Emery’s extradition to serve a five-year prison sentence.

“I think of myself as a great Canadian – I’ve worked my whole life for individual freedom in this country, I’ve never asked for anything in return,” Mr. Emery told reporters outside B.C. Supreme Court in downtown Vancouver, with his wife by his side and a throng of supporters carrying “Free Marc” signs.

“And now I will be possibly handed over to the United States for a five-year sentence for the so-called crime of selling seeds from my desk. I’m proud of what I’ve done, and I have no regrets.”

Mr. Emery has been out on bail since last fall, when he was released from custody as the federal justice minister made a decision on whether to extradite him.

Justice Minister Rob Nicholson must decide whether to turn Mr. Emery over to American authorities, keep him in Canada, or again request more time to make his final decision. The minister was not immediately available for comment.

Mr. Emery has been eligible for extradition since early January.

Mr. Emery made a plea deal with U.S. prosecutors last year, agreeing to plead guilty in connection to his Vancouver-based seed-selling business in return for a sentence of five years in prison.

American prosecutors allege through Mr. Emery’s magazine and website he has sold about four million marijuana seeds and that 75 per cent of those went to customers in the United States.

Documents obtained by Mr. Emery’s lawyer revealed that a U.S. undercover agent posing as a marijuana seed buyer worked in Canada to secure the criminal charges against Mr. Emery south of the border.

The U.S. undercover operation is described in a briefing memo to Justice Minister Rob Nicholson dated Feb. 10, 2010, which outlines the case against Mr. Emery.

The memo said numerous mail order purchases were made by U.S. undercover agents between March 2004 and March 2005 and an undercover U.S. Drug Enforcement agent was then sent to Vancouver.

The memo said the agent was under the supervision and working with the approval of Vancouver’s police department.

Allegations against Mr. Emery include that staff at his Cannabis Culture store in Vancouver counselled the agent on how to smuggle seeds across the border and how to grow the marijuana.

“It is alleged that [the store employee] told agent Mendez that border inspectors do not conduct strip searches of females, so she should hide the seeds somewhere on her body,” the memo stated.

The documents say the DEA agent made several deals to purchase marijuana seeds in exchange for cash and that Mr. Emery knew she was going to smuggle the seeds over the border.

The information was obtained under the federal Access to Information Act by Kirk Tousaw, a lawyer and former Marijuana Party campaign manager.

In addition to his seed-selling business and marijuana paraphernalia store, Mr. Emery is the president of the B.C. Marijuana Party.

He was originally charged with conspiracy to manufacture and distribute marijuana and money laundering. Two of his Cannabis Culture employees were also accused, but charges were dropped as part of the plea agreement.

The minister’s memo states the federal government has received more than 2,700 letters about Emery and virtually all of them ask that Mr. Nicholson refuse to extradite him.

Mr. Emery said he has public support on his side.

“I feel it will be very politically unpopular if [the minister] proceeds with the extradition because, let’s say five to seven million Canadian’s use marijuana … I have the support of hundreds of thousands, possibly millions of Canadians.”

If he is extradited to the United States, Mr. Emery hopes he’ll be allowed to return to Canada to serve out his jail sentence.  Source.

May 9, 2010 – NEW BRITAIN, CT. — In the U.S., marijuana has been illegal since 1937. Should it be made legal again? That was the question Steven Hager, former editor of High Times magazine, and Bob Stutman, retired DEA agent, debated at Central Connecticut State University Thursday night, at an event sponsored by the campus chapter of National Organization for the Reform of Marijuana Laws.

Hager kicked off the debate by listing his reasons to legalize it:. One, “It is good medicine.” Hager cited studies showing medicinal benefits marijuana has for those suffering from AIDS, cancer, multiple sclerosis, glaucoma, and other illnesses. However, he pointed out, the federal government lists marijuana as a Schedule 1 drug, the status reserved for substances with no medicinal value.

“No medicinal value! That’s the equivalent of standing in the middle of a hurricane and having government tell you ‘The wind isn’t blowing,’” he said.

Hager also said pharmaceutical companies oppose legalization. “They don’t have problems with you getting high — they’ve got amphetamines [and many other intoxicating substances]. They want to get paid.” By contrast, he said, if you grow marijuana “you and your grand-kids have free medicine for the rest of your lives.”

Stutman rebutted that point. “Steve said marijuana will never become a medicine because pharmaceutical companies won’t accept non-synthetic medicine.”

However, he said, penicillin is most pharmaceutical companies’ best-selling drug, and comes from bread mold — a natural substance. Hager responded by asking the audience how many of them knew people who whipped up their own batch of penicillin when they got sick (no hands went up) and then how many knew people who raised their own marijuana (dozens of hands went up).

Hager’s second reason for legalization was, “Hemp is good for the environment.” He discussed hemp’s role in American history. George Washington encouraged farmers to grow it, as it was used to make rope, cloth and hundreds of other necessities. “It wasn’t even called marijuana until [the 1936 movie] ‘Reefer Madness.’ They gave it a Mexican name to confuse people.”

Hager also said that hemp was formerly used to make plastics, cellophane, and hundreds of other items now made from petrochemicals instead, thus contributing to environmental damage.

Stutman’s rebuttal was that hemp products are not very good. As an example, he said Canada legalized hemp farming in 1999, and the country had over 270 hemp farms, Today, he said, there are only six hemp farms in the country. The others all went bankrupt. “If hemp is so great, why did they go bankrupt?”

Hager’s third point was that the U.S. has by far the largest prison system in the world and criticized the disproportionate sentences handed out to drug offenders: “Take someone growing marijuana in his basement, maybe because he has MS, maybe he just wants to get high, the government doesn’t care.” The government would prosecute as though each individual marijuana seed were a full-grown plant, mandatory minimum sentencing would ensure a very long stint in prison for the growers, and  “There’s no mandatory minimum for rapists or murderers, but we have mandatory minimums for glaucoma patients,” he said.

Here there was agreement. “I don’t think anyone should be thrown in prison for the use of any drug. That is a stupid government policy that gets us nowhere,” said Stutman.

Hager’s fourth point was, “We’ve got to stop funding corruption.” Marijuana, essentially a weed, can grow almost anywhere in the world. “The real price of marijuana isn’t $5,000 a pound. It’s a dollar a pound. The other $4,999 goes to criminals.” Illegal drugs is a $500 billion a year business, and “$500 billion a year buys a lot of dirty cops, and it always will.”

Stutman said that merely legalizing marijuana would not put the drug cartels out of business, to do that would require the legalization of all drugs.

Hager’s fifth reason for legalization was “It’s part of my culture.” He talked about going to the 1969 Woodstock festival, and among half a million people “I never saw a fight break out. Despite how the media portrays us, we are good people. We raised our kids and grand-kids … as American as apple pie, rock and roll and baseball.”

Arguing against legalization, Stutman said “If we legalize marijuana we will have far more users” and more car accidents if people drive after smoking it. NORML’s own Web site tells people never to drive after using cannabis he said. He also said marijuana can cause cancer by interfering with DNA.

In rebuttal, Hager discussed the marijuana scare stories of the past. When he was in high school, young men were warned smoking marijuana would cause them to develop “large breasts like Dolly Parton,” which never happened. Later, he said, the warning was that marijuana would cause sterility, which also never happened.

However, Hager said, smoking anything is a bad idea, which is why he said anyone using marijuana should “vaporize it, drink it in tea or eat it in brownies,” so the bad effects of smoking would not be an issue.  By Jennifer Abel.  Source.