| Marc Emery in 2007. |
Finally some good news for Marc Emery. Emery’s wife, Jodie, tells the Canadian Press that her husband has been approved for deportation from the United States to Canada to finish out his five-year sentence for mailing cannabis seeds into the U.S.
The next step is for the Canadian government to give their approval, and Emery could be back on Canadian soil by Christmas.
“I hope that whoever is the public safety minister approves it very quickly, otherwise I’m going to have to rally up the troops as I usually do and cause a bit of trouble for them — in as peaceful a way as possible,” Jodie Emery told The Province.
This is the second attempt from Emery to be extradited to Canada to finish out his prison time, having first been denied in 2011. Emery was first indicted on charges in 2005, but wasn’t arrested until May 2010 after being extradited to the U.S. Since then, he’s been living at a medium-security prison in Mississippi. (Editor’s note: ironically one of the only states that has federally-legal marijuana being grown within it’s borders).
Interestingly, the Canadian papers point to recent law changes in Washington and Colorado as part of the reason for her Emery now being granted this change of prison scenery. Jodie Emery says the role is cyclical, saying that without Marc, Washington and Colorado wouldn’t have made the progress they have made. She points to the man who at one time prosecuted her husband, former U.S. Attorney John McKay, who has since become a cannabis advocate who campaigned for Washington’s I-502 as a prime example.
“He was pivotal in the earliest days and now it’s all coming to fruition,” she said. “It’s exactly what he wanted to see. That’s victory for us.”
At the very least, it means no more dealing with overzealous Mississippi prison guards. As we reported last month, Emery was put into solitary confinement and only allowed outside one hour per day for playing in his prison rock band. Officials at the prison were miffed when a photo of the band was taken and sent to Jodie Emery to be posted on Marc’s blog over at Cannabis Culture. You can read Marc’s recounting of the events over at the site as well.
For those that don’t know, Emery was a high-profile marijuana figure in Canada and the U.S. before his arrest. In addition to his seed business, he was founding editor of Cannabis Culture magazine, proprietor of the Cannabis Café in Vancouver and even ran for the Canadian House of Commons and the British Columbia Legislature.
Emery’s sentence ends in July 2014.
