BLAME CANADA

I want to commend Dean Kuipers for his excellent article "The Strange and Seedy Case of Marc Emery, Canadian" [Re: Cover story, Sept. 22]. As a Canadian, I have been following this story very closely from my side of the border. Canadian news coverage was slow to start mainly because of the timing of the arrests, which occurred at the beginning of a long weekend in Canada. But since then, there has been steady coverage of the story in the Canadian media. Not so for the American media.

In February, I became the Marijuana Party of Canada candidate for Victoria, British Columbia. So far this year (which is not over yet), a number of major events have happened in both of our countries:

The massacre of four Royal Canadian Mounted Police officers in rural Alberta was initially blamed on a marijuana grow operation when, in fact, the killer was a psychotic and a known cop hater. The U.S. Supreme Court, in its ruling on Gonzales v. Raich, made possession of medical marijuana illegal even in the states where medical marijuana is allowed. Health Canada approved the sale of Sativex, which is a tincture of cannabis used to treat pain in MS patients. The U.S. government is trying to extradite Renee Boje for marijuana conspiracy charges in California. The DEA uncovers the infamous drug tunnel from British Columbia to Washington State. One shipment of marijuana was allowed to go through, but there are claims that the tunnel would be used to smuggle other, more dangerous drugs, guns, and terrorists.

The DEA arrests Marc Emery and two others on charges of conspiracy to manufacture marijuana, conspiracy to distribute marijuana seeds and conspiracy to engage in money laundering. They also dismantled and shut down the BC Marijuana Party headquarters, Cannabis Culture magazine, and Internet-based POT-TV. Karen P. Tandy, DEA Administrator brags that the U.S. government has struck a serious blow against marijuana legalization movements. It seems that the United States and Canada are heading in opposite directions regarding the legalization of cannabis.

The DEA arrests Marc Emery and two others on charges of conspiracy to manufacture marijuana, conspiracy to distribute marijuana seeds and conspiracy to engage in money laundering. They also dismantled and shut down the BC Marijuana Party headquarters, Cannabis Culture magazine, and Internet-based POT-TV. Karen P. Tandy, DEA Administrator brags that the U.S. government has struck a serious blow against marijuana legalization movements. It seems that the United States and Canada are heading in opposite directions regarding the legalization of cannabis.

Fred Mallach
Candidate, MARIJUANA PARTY OF CANADA
Victoria, British Columbia, Canada

Pubdate: Thu, 06 Oct 2005
Source: Los Angeles City Beat (CA)
Copyright: 2005 Southland Publishing
(Letter in L.A. City Beat)