Petition in the House

Mark Holland's office has the petition and Mark is willing to present it. However, he is having trouble getting to the House to present it and, unfortunately, I think time is running out on this Parliament.

Apparently Mark can submit the petition to the clerk without standing up in the House. This is not the preferred option, but it is better than nother. However, I would still rather have it presented orally.

If anybody can find an MP who would be willing to read out the petition, then I believe that Holland's office will forward it. I am thinkin that I will ask to just have the petition tabled with the clerk on Wednesday if we don't have a person.

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Petition Approved!

I have word from Mark Holland's office that the petition has been approved by the Clerk's office for the House of Commons. He will not be able to present it for a few weeks, but it is on its way. The real positive, in my view, is that he seems to want to present it himself. That means that we should be looking at a proper response from the government. I will post when we have more details.

Tommy Chong came before Emery

Last night I saw a/k/a Tommy Chong at the Toronto International Film Festival. I have to admit that I went to it mostly because I though it would be sort of interesting. By the end, though, I realized that it was much more than that. Most people would compare it to Fahrenheit 9/11 because it attacks Bush somewhat, but I compare it to Bowling for Columbine because it is quite powerful and does not smack of bias. I would go so far as to say that a/k/a/ Tommy Chong will be one of the surprise hits of the Festival.

The movie is basically a documentary about how Tommy Chong of Cheech and Chong was arrested for selling drug paraphanalia, better known as bongs. They are legal in most of the US, but the Federal Drug Enforcement Agency set up a sting operation where a guy from a state where they are illegal, Pennsylvania, insisted on having many of them shipped. One of the interesting parts of this is that the company continually refused to ship the product to the state. After eight months, the undercover cop drove to the warehouse and picked a number of items that were not in stock. Once they were made, he refused to pick them up. As a result, Tommy Chong's company shipped them out to get rid of them. The FDA spent eight months entrapping a business that sells glass!

Once they had the company, the police raided it as if it were a major cocaine operation run by the Mafia. Instead, they got this old stoner guy being nice and telling them where to find everything. However, doing things the simple way would not have earned the publicity that the FDA wanted. Once Tommy was arrested, he was given a choice. The government told him that if he did not plead guilty they would charge his wife and son... When the hell did the American government start acting as if it were run by Don Corleone? Give yourself up or we'll destroy your family? Plea bargaining is one thing, but blackmailing a criminal defendant is beyond the pale.

There are two other major aspects to this story. The first is that, as with Marc Emery, the law under which Tommy was charged had not really been enforced for years. I know some people don't care about that, but I am absolutely convinced that when a law has not been enforced for long enough, a government has a duty to inform the public that things are going to change before they start laying charges. Indeed, I would make that the law if I were in a position to do so. The second aspect is that in its sentencing submissions, the prosecution argued that the Cheech and Chong movies of 30 years ago were aggravating factors. The length of time makes the whole thing farcical, but even without that the entire situation is disturbing. The American Government argued that a person should be punished for expressing his opinions against a policy in public. This is the sort of thing that should be unheard of.

However, as we all know, this is not unheard of. The FDA has openly admitted that they are after Marc Emery because of his support for legalizing marijuana. What happened to Tommy Chong is just further evidence that the entire marijuana focus of the FDA is more about politics than anything. Forget cocaine - only poor black kids do that. The FDA wants to stop people like Emery and Chong from helping middle-class white kids from doing drugs. It does not matter if this particular drug is part of a political debate. Indeed, the political nature is what has led the FDA to focus so heavily on it. This is an attempt to win a political debate with the force of the state.

Politics aside, a/k/a Tommy Chong is an excellent documentary. This is not only because of the message, but because of the way it is put together. It includes clips from the Tonight Show, which are very difficult to get. It has interviews with intelligent celebrities like Bill Maher. It is gritty in the way that Bowling for Columbine was and Fahrenheit 9/11 was not. a/k/a Tommy Chong could be the surprise of the festival.

Petition will go to Parliament

I have been in contact with the office of Liberal MP Mark Holland, and he has agreed to present our petition when Parliament resumes. I have been told that he has no interest in being a public face for this cause, so he probably will not sign the petition. Indeed, his presenting it says absolutely nothing about his support for the cause or lack thereof. Nevertheless, I believe that Mr. Holland deserves respect and thanks for agreeing to do this.

This is not about legalization of pot

This campaign to stop the extradition of Marc Emery is not about the legalization of marijuana. It is not about "pot culture" and, as argued below, it is not even about Marc Emery. This campaign is about law and order.

It is a principle of fundamental justice is that laws must not be selectively enforced. Marc Emery was charged with a crime that is not enforced in Canada. The Government of Canada directed Canadians to his web site to by marijuana seeds. The Government of Canada chose to give Marc Emery legitimacy. There can be no question about this. Well, say some, the law is enforced in the US. Once Emery sent seeds to the US, he broke American laws and has to face the consequences. However, just consider that in a different context. Imagine if it were illegal in the US to join the Communist Party. Now imagine if Emery sold Communist memberships over the Internet. Would we be willing to extradite him for that?

I personally support the legalization of pot. The vast majority of Emery's supporters feel the same way. However, that is only a side issue that makes this "sexy" enough to get media attention. The real issue is justice. That is why Emery is a political prisoner.

This is not about Emery the man

As a Jewish Canadian, I have to say that I am completely disgusted by Emery's comparison of Irwin Cotler to Nazis. It is probably the gravest possible insult that can be made against Cotler. It also displays a complete lack of understanding about the Nazis and the holocaust. I would see the point if all marijuana activists were rounded up and sent to prison camps, but that is clearly not the case. There is also the fact that marijuana use is not an immutable characteristic such as religion.

All that said, I will not withdraw my support for this campaign. I am not doing this because I think that Emery is a great man. I am not doing this because I think that pot should be widely used. I am not doing this because I hate the United States. I am doing this because I believe that the extradition of Marc Emery would be against fundamental principles of justice. People should not be selectively punished for laws that are unenforced. People should not be singled out because they donate money to political causes. People should not be extradited for doing something that has been all but sanctioned by the government. Whether a great man or a jerkoff, Marc Emery should not be extradited.

Report on Petition Signing

On Monday, I spent three hours in font of the Eaton's Centre collecting signatures against extraditing Marc Emery to the US. In that time, Peter Jaworski and a friend of his from the US joined me. We collected approximately 175 signatures. It is not much overall, but for one day it is not bad. If we had all the time in the world to continue collecting signatures at 175 a day, this would be quite formidable.

I realize that it will not mean much on its own. However, it is enough to get the petition into Parliament. The next step for me is to find at least one MP willing to submit it. As I try, and get responses, I might post them up on this site.

Fortunately, there is still a perfectly good petition that can be signed anywhere in Canada. As a result, I am going to suggest that anybody interested send an email to cherniak@dal.ca. I can send a Word version of the petition with signature pages and all. It can be amended to be from "citizens of the riding of..." where the situation warrants. All you need is a minimum of 25 signatures with an address to have it submitted to Parliament (by a willing MP). If you do have a localized petition, then a less sympathetic MP might be more willing to introduce it.

I think it is fair to claim temporary success. Again, this is not enough on its own to make a difference. However, nothing in a democracy is enough on its own to do anything. There is strength in numbers and I hope that all those who support this cause will do their part to the bring the message to society at large. For three hours you can help save the entire lives of three other people.