” Canada’s so—called Prince of Pot is on his way to the United States to face drug—related charges, his wife said on Thursday.
Marc Emery has sold millions of marijuana seeds around the world by mail over the past decade, drawing the attention of U.S. drug officials.
Emery was ordered extradited to Seattle earlier this month after pleading guilty last year to one charge of distributing marijuana seeds via the mail to U.S. customers.
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Jodie Emery said her husband was driven from a Vancouver, British Columbia, jail to the Washington state border on Thursday to be handed over to U.S. authorities.
“They will ... drive him down to Seattle to Federal Court where he will make his initial appearance so that they can show that they’ve got him,” she said.
She said her husband will be held in a detention centre south of Seattle for about a week before appearing in front of a judge to plead guilty.
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Canada’s Minister of Justice Rob Nicholson signed off on his extradition on May 10, saying the extradition order was sought on charges of conspiracy to manufacture and distribute marijuana and engage in money laundering.
Emery reached a plea deal with U.S. prosecutors last year, agreeing to plead guilty to conspiracy to manufacture marijuana in return for a sentence of five years in prison. He will carry out his plea—bargained sentenced in Seattle.
After the extradition was signed off on, Jodie Emery accused Nicholson of wanting to “silence the most vocal opponent of the drug war.”
Emery’s supporters view him as a crusader for the use and sale of the drug for both its recreational and medicinal value. To drug officials, he is a criminal and the biggest purveyor of marijuana from Canada into the United States.
Emery has long maintained that his prosecution was politically motivated in the U.S. The U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration has repeatedly denied that.
The marijuana activist has been out on bail since November 17, when he was released from custody as the minister made the final decision in his case.
Jodie Emery said she had no warning of when he was to be extradited and will hold a rally with marijuana supporters in front of her husband’s Cannabis Culture store in downtown Vancouver.
She called on other marijuana activists to shut down Hastings Street, a busy commuter link in the western Canadian city, directly in front of the business.