Marijuana activist sentenced to 5 years

SEATTLE, Sept. 11 (UPI) -- U.S. District Judge Ricardo Martinez in Seattle ordered Canadian marijuana activist Marc Emery to serve five years in prison for conspiring to sell pot seeds.

Emery, who founded the British Columbia Marijuana Party, and a Web site called CannibasCulture.com, has run for political office and campaigned for years to legalize marijuana, CNN reported Saturday.

However, it caught up with him. Once on a U.S. list of most-wanted drug traffickers, Emery, who has been arrested many times on charges related to his political activities, pleaded guilty to one count of conspiracy to manufacture marijuana in May.

The charge related to selling marijuana seeds through the U.S. mail and by orders taken over the phone from a head shop he owns in Vancouver.

Two co-defendants received a sentence of probation in Canada, CNN reported.

"There is no question your actions were illegal and criminal and your actions ensured that others broke the law and suffered the consequences," Martinez said at Emery's sentencing.

"Marc Emery decided that U.S. laws did not apply to him, but he was wrong," U.S. Attorney Jenny Durkan said in a statement.

In a letter to the court, Emery said, "It was my sincere belief that the prohibitions on cannabis are hurtful to U.S. and Canadian citizens and are contrary to the U.S. and Canadian constitutions. I was, however, overzealous and reckless in pursuing this belief, and acted arrogantly in violation of U.S. federal law."