Prince of pot to serve time

"Prince of pot" Marc Emery, an activist for marijuana legalization, publisher of Cannabis Culture magazine and dealer in marijuana seeds, is going to have to serve some hard time after all. Canadian authorities arrested Emery at the behest of U.S. anti-drug officials, even though Emery runs his businesses entirely from north of the border. His sale of seeds to American customers was apparently the only hook ticked-off Canadian police needed to do their U.S. colleagues' bidding.

After a long fight, Emery accepted a ten-year sentence -- of which he'll have to serve at least five years -- in order to avoid an even longer sentence and to keep co-accused Michelle Rainey and Greg Williams out from behind bars.

Yes, the long arm of American drug prohibitionists reaches far and wide indeed -- even beyond their nominal jurisdiction.

Update: See the National Post's well-considered editorial regarding this case.