Global Ganja Report

Police launched a major anti-cannabis operation in Quebec June 3, arresting 35 in raids on four "compassion centers" in Montreal and one in Quebec City. A police spokesman said no organized crime gangs were linked to the centers—but that doesn’t make it OK.

Vancouver's "Prince of Pot" Marc Emery, extradited from his native Canada, pleaded guilty in US District Court in Seattle on May 24 to conspiracy to manufacture marijuana. As part of a plea bargain, Emery, 52, must serve five years in prison for selling seeds to US customers through his business, Marc Emery Direct. He will remain in custody at the Federal Detention Center at SeaTac until sentencing.

Canada's "Prince of Pot" Marc Emery was extradited to the US on the morning of May 20. He had been imprisoned in Canada for the last 10 days after Canadian Justice Minister Rob Nicholson signed extradition papers. He is now a prisoner in a federal detention facility, where he awaits a court hearing in Seattle.

Canadian Justice Minister Robert Nicholson came to a decision May 10 in the case of cannabis crusader and one-time mail-order seed entrepreneur Marc Emery, approving an order to extradite him to the United States to face charges of money-laundering and "conspiracy to manufacture marijuana." He faces up to five years in prison, for a crime punishable by a $200 fine in Canada.

C-15, the draconian anti-cannabis legislation that has been languishing in Canada's parliament, was reintroduced May 5 by MP Rob Nicholson (Tory-Ontario) as Bill S-10. The bill is slightly more lenient, with a nine-year mandatory minimum sentence kicking in at six plants, not one. It also imposes mandatory minimum sentences for making any hashish or baked goods, and a host of other offenses.

Members of Parliament from the Liberal, New Democratic, and Conservative Parties of Canada presented petitions March 15 to Ottawa's House of Commons with over 12,000 signatures asking the Minister of Justice to stop the extradition of activist Marc Emery.