Marc Emery Takes Deal, Will Do Five Years In Prison

Canada's self-styled "Prince of Pot," Marc Emery, has reportedly accepted a deal offered by US prosecutors and will serve five years in prison on cannabis-related charges.

The Seattle Post-Intelligencer reported on Jan. 16, 2008 ("'Prince of Pot' Given Prison Time") that "Although the plea deal has not yet been formally adopted, Emery said Tuesday that he's agreed to the prosecution's terms: that he serve a minimum of five years behind bars. Most of that time would be done in a Canadian prison, he said. Emery had been facing a mandatory minimum term of 10 years and up to life if convicted in U.S. District Court for a crime that's rarely prosecuted in Canada. The plea agreement calls for him to plead guilty to a three-count indictment issued in 2005 by a Seattle grand jury. He was charged with manufacturing more than a ton of marijuana and conspiring to distribute seeds and launder the profits."

According to the Post-Intelligencer, "Emery said the plea deal is contingent on sparing two longtime associates, also charged in the indictment, any jail time. Assistant U.S. Attorney Todd Greenberg on Tuesday declined to comment on the plea bargain outlined by Emery. He said an extradition hearing scheduled to begin Monday in Vancouver so far hasn't been canceled."

The P-I noted that "As support for his allegation that his prosecution was politically motivated, Emery prominently displays on his Web site a statement from Karen Tandy, the administrator of the Drug Enforcement Administration at the time. To the dismay of the federal criminal justice establishment in Seattle, Tandy issued a statement after Emery's arrest in July 2005, saying: 'Today's DEA arrest of Marc 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 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.'"

Lowest-Priority Law for Cannabis Works ... for Whites

According to a new evaluation, the number of marijuana arrests in the city of Seattle has declined since passage of I-75, at least for some. The Seattle Post-Intelligencer reported on Jan. 8, 2008 ("Pot Arrests Higher for Blacks in City") that "In late 2003, Seattle voters approved an initiative directing city law enforcement to treat personal marijuana use by adults as its lowest priority. Since then, the overall number of cases investigated by police and pursued by city prosecutors has dropped, the report found."

According to the Post-Intelligencer, "White Seattleites have enjoyed a disproportionately larger share of the reduction in misdemeanor marijuana charges -- compared with black people -- since Seattle voters designated such crimes the city's lowest law enforcement priority, according to a new city study. Overall, police and prosecutors less often pursue possession charges against both blacks and whites. But the proportion of those charged who are African-American has grown. In fact, although whites vastly outnumber black men and women in Seattle, authorities arrested and charged more African-Americans in 2006 on marijuana allegations, according to a report presented by the Marijuana Policy Review Panel. The panel recommended officials dig deeper into that data to determine what is causing the disparity. 'The report highlights the racial disparity in marijuana enforcement, which is indicative of the disparity of all drug enforcement,' said Dominic Holden, who was chairman of the Initiative 75 campaign and a member of the review panel."

The P-I noted that "In 2003, Seattle police referred 181 male suspects to prosecutors for marijuana allegations. That figure dropped in 2004, but edged back up to 134 in 2006. Over the same period, the proportion of cases that police referred to prosecutors against black suspects grew compared with white suspects. The share of white men that police sought to charge dropped slightly, while the proportion of black males among the suspects grew from 52 percent to 57 percent. Among female suspects there was a larger disparity, although police sought charges against very few women. In 2003, black women made up 35 percent of the female suspects. Three years later, they accounted for half of the 14 women police sought to charge. The numbers were similar among charges filed by prosecutors. In 2003, city attorneys filed marijuana cases against 123 men and 19 women. Those numbers dropped significantly in 2004 and 2005. But charges against men jumped back up to 116 in 2006. The proportion of defendants who were black grew slightly over that period. The report also found no indications the policy resulted in a jump in crime rates, increased marijuana use by youth or negative implications to public health."

The "Final Report of the Marijuana Policy Review Panel" is available online.

Increasing Penalties for Pot Would Not Keep Young People From Using

Young people would not likely be deterred from trying marijuana if the penalties for possession were increased, researchers in England say.

The Independent on Sunday reported on Jan. 6, 2008 ("Reclassifying Cannabis Would Make No Difference to Young") that "Reclassifying cannabis would be pointless and therefore unlikely to make any difference to young users of the drug, according to a new report by some of the country's top criminal policy experts. Cannabis has now become such an important part of youth culture that a new generation of users are supplying each other with the drug, buying and sharing it with friends and relatives. A team of researchers from the Institute for Criminal Policy Research ( ICPR ) led by Professor Mike Hough, a senior adviser to the Home Office, has concluded that the 'social supply' of cannabis has almost entirely cut out traditional drug dealers and therefore needs a new approach. Their findings reveal that 90 per cent of young users can get hold of cannabis in under a day - with the majority able to get it within an hour."

According to the Independent, "Researchers conclude that 'the findings from this and other studies show that cannabis use is significantly embedded in the social world of many young people. It is unlikely a marginal change in the drug's legal status will have an impact.'"

The report is available from the ICPR website at King's College London.