But what has provoked this excellent idea is the U.S. role in the recent arrest of Canadian citizen Marc Emery (as well as two other Canadians). Thanks to U. S. interference, Emery was arrested in Nova Scotia. Emery is a leader of the British Columbia Marijuana Party and he has been selling pot seeds via the internet for a very long time. Canadian officials looked the other way until the U.S. butted in.
So now the U.S. is trying to have Emery extradited. Under the harshly punitive U.S. system, the political activist could get anywhere from 10 years to life. Ten years to life for selling pot seeds! Any day now I expect to hear that the U.S. will begin chopping off the hands of persons caught touching the 'killer weed.' Bush will make patriotic speeches about the need to Free the Hands of the world for America.
But what is really going on here is a war by the U.S. on the movement to legalize marijuana. Where better to take this war than Canada?
According to DEA administrator Karen Tandy:
Today's arrest of Mark (sic) Scott Emery, publisher of Cannabis Culture magazine and the founder of a marijuana legalization group, is a significant blow not only to the marijuana trafficking trade in the U.S. and Canada, but also to the marijuana legalization movement.
Hundreds of thousands of dollars of Emery's illicit profits are known to have been channeled to marijuana legalization groups active in the United States and Canada. Drug legalization lobbyists now have one less pot of money to rely on.
Understandably, Canadians are alarmed over U.S. led arrests on Canadian soil and efforts to extradite Canadian citizens for crimes that are just barely recognized as crimes in Canada.
Cathie from Canada says:
"Canadian anger is going to increase. . . Sending the Vancouver Three to the United States means we are sending them to prison in the US until at least 2016. This is just wrong -- I would call it, in itself, a criminal act. . . Why should Canada send the Vancouver Three -- Mark Emery, Greg Williams and Michelle Rainey-Fenkarek, all Canadian citizens -- to serve at least ten years in prison in the States for a so-called crime which has not even been prosecuted here for the last 37 years? It is a betrayal of both Canadian sovereignty and Canadian citizens if the Canadian government allows this to happen."
Canadian blogger Pogge argues that if the U.S. is going to apply its laws to Canadians, then Canada should do the same to U.S. citizens:
"Ladies and gentlemen, meet the Reverend Fred Phelps of the Westboro Baptist Church. Since much of what Rev. Phelps has to say would be considered hate speech under Canadian law, and since it comes into Canada over the internet (though I'm not providing a link), when can we expect American law enforcement officials to arrest the good Reverend and arrange his extradition to Canada to stand trial?"
Guess we'll need to build some more prisons for all those citizens of other countries that are breaking U.S. laws. Afterall, cracking the whip of U.S. domination on the world is good for the U.S. economy.
See: Extradite Fred Phelps and Save Marc Emery
drug war Prohibition Civil Rights world domination marijuana fred phelps homophobia Gay
