Canada’s so-called “Prince of Pot” is on his way to the US to face drug-related charges, his wife said on Thursday.
Marc Emery had sold millions of marijuana seeds around the world by mail over the past decade, attracting the attention of US drug officials.
Emery was ordered extradited to Seattle earlier this month after pleading guilty last year to one charge of distributing marijuana seeds via mail to US customers.
Jodie Emery said her husband was driven from a Vancouver jail to the Washington state border on Thursday to be handed over to US 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.
Emery is due to be held in a detention center south of Seattle for about a week, before appearing in front of a judge to plead guilty.
Canadian Minister of Justice Rob Nicholson signed off on the extradition on May 10, saying the order was sought on charges of conspiracy to manufacture and distribute marijuana and engage in money laundering.
Emery reached a plea deal with US prosecutors last year, agreeing to plead guilty to conspiracy to manufacture marijuana in return for a sentence of five years in prison, to be served 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 US.
Emery has long maintained that his prosecution was politically motivated, but the US Drug Enforcement Administration has repeatedly denied such claims.
The marijuana activist has been out on bail since Nov. 17 last year, when he was released from custody pending the minister’s final decision in his case.
Jodie Emery said she received no warning of when her husband was to be extradited and will hold a rally with marijuana supporters in front of his 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.
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