Canada’s Marijuana Hypocrisy
August 12, 2005 · By Peter Rempel
Is Emery’s extradition justified? Of course. He shouldn’t have been so stupid as to have poked a stick at the American war on drugs.
And there the story ends. Or does it? Before we ship Emery off, perhaps it’s worth our time to ask why it is that the Canadian government is willing to extradite him to face drug charges in the US when it was itself unwilling to prosecute Emery under Canada’s drug laws? Emery’s seed distribution business was as illegal in Canada as it is in the US. So why the discreptancy?
Here’s one possible answer: Because Health Canada encouraged people who might have benefitted from the use of medicinal marijuana to buy seeds from online distributors like Emery. Prosecuting Emery for supplying a market that the government encouraged might be viewed as a tad bit hypocritical. But it is no less hypocritical to extradite Emery to the US to face charges for running a business that the government encouraged.
At base, the Emery extradition is all about the Canadian government shunting its dirty work over to the US. The Canadian government doesn’t want to expend the resources to crack down on marijuana use or deal with the public anger that would accompany such a move. So why not just let the US government, which is willing to expend the resources, do so?
Petition: Prince of Pot - No Extradition.
http://www.petitiononline.com/Emery/petition.html
“Is Emery’s extradition justified? Of course. He shouldn’t have been so stupid as to have poked a stick at the American war on drugs.”
Yes, it’s cleverness that keeps the Ottawa government from poking a stick at the Americans too. Except for Raymond Chretien, Carolyn Parrish, and the CBC.
Actually when an important issue is at stake for Canadians, the Canadian Government never seems to poke a stick at the Yankees. I wonder why that is? Maybe it’s like when Ralph Klein pokes sticks at the Ottawa government. Always an act to make Albertans think they’re being represented, but when there are real stakes at issue, Klein folds.
The thing is, I think Emery knew the risks. I also think he knew what could be gained, but still put his neck on the line. Marijuana prohibition begins and ends with the Americans. When the US is done with prohibition, everyone else will be too.
If there is public anger, and they’re trying to avoid it, that’s because the public know what’s good for them, which makes sense to me.
Letting the US extradite Emery is just their way of keeping the relationship good with the US.