jacob hunter

By. Phil Smith, Drug War Chronicle

 

Canada's Conservative minority government hopes the third time is the charm for its controversial measure to increase sentences for marijuana cultivation and introduce mandatory minimum sentences for some drug offenses. Now known as S-10, the measure will be taken up by the Senate when it returns from recess at end of next month.

 

The bill is designed to "send a message" that "if you sell or produce drugs, you'll pay with jail time," Justice Minister Rob Nicholson said when re-filing the bill in May.

 

Under the bill, anyone growing six or more plants for the purpose of drug trafficking could face a mandatory minimum six month jail sentence, with a one-year mandatory minimum for up to 200 plants and two years for up to 500 plants. Hash makers also face a one-year mandatory minimum.

 

The mandatory minimum sentences could be increased by half if any of a number of aggravating factors are claimed. These include whether a weapon was found on the premises, if minors were involved, if the location was unsafe, and whether pot production posed a danger to the public in a residential area. Read more »

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

June 21, 2010

G-420 Protest Planned for Saturday June 26 - Dundas Square to Queens Park South

 

Saturday, June 26 members of the Toronto Cannabis Community will be hosting the G-420 parade in downtown Toronto. The protest will start at 12pm at Dundas Square and parade will depart at 2pm to Queens Park South, via Yonge and Wellesley Streets. Organizers are adamant that nobody attend the protest wearing masks, asserting that anyone who does so will be assumed to be an undercover police officer/agent provocateur.

 

“The G-20 is an absolute waste of money, where very little is ever actually accomplished. A cursory glance at the security setup shows that protesters will be neither seen nor heard” said Jacob Hunter, G-420 organizer, “We are here to bring our message to the people of Toronto, that the drug war, despite $1 Trillion dollars spent, has actually increased drug availability, while enriching ever more violent organized criminals” Read more »

By. Matt Burrows, Georgia Straight

 

A Vancouver marijuana-legalization advocate claims Bill S-10, Prime Minister Stephen Harper’s latest attempt to stiffen penalties for drug crimes, would cost the federal government between $2 billion and $5 billion a year.

 

“We did an economic analysis based on the number of people charged in a given year and the average sentence they received and the sentence they would receive under a mandatory minimum, and we applied those numbers to known costs per prisoner in jail,” Jacob Hunter, policy director for the Beyond Prohibition Foundation, told the Straight via cellphone from Toronto, where he is campaigning to free jailed “Prince of Pot” Mark Emery.

 

Bill S-10, called the Penalties for Organized Drug Crime Act, would amend the Controlled Drugs and Substances Act and make changes to various other laws. It would usher in mandatory minimum penalties for drugs such as heroin, cocaine, methamphetamine, and marijuana. The maximum sentence for marijuana production would be increased from seven to 14 years. Read more »

By. Jacob Hunter,

 

On Thursday, June 10, activists from the Free Marc Emery campaign went to Justice Minister Rob Nicholson's office, only to find closed and locked doors. Very shortly after our arrival, staff called Niagara Regional Police. Constable Chris Stewart arrived and informed Nicole Seguin that cameras are considered "weapons" by Niagara Regional Police. Both Nicole Seguin and I refused to ablidge Stweart, informing him of their right to film police.

 

As Constable Chris Stewart approchaed the locked door to Rob Nicholson's office, I informed Constable Stewart that we would be coming in as well, in keeping with our right to protest. Chris Stewart then turned, closed the door, then attacked, first my camera phone, and then my person. Stewart, holding on to me, shoved my violently backwards several steps onto my bad knee, which I recently had reconstructive surgery on. I twisted in intense pain, and lost my balance. Constable Stewart, highly agitated, began demanding I drop my laptop bag. After Stewart declared I was under arrest, I complied.

 

A bus-load of activists showed up shortly thereafter, and the result was a loud protest, and extremely unprofessional behaviour by the Niagara Regional Police. Eric Compton was arrested for using Hug Power to try and stop my illegal arrest. The two of us spent the next 8 hours in holding cells, while Niagara police dealt with protests outside. Read more »

By. Paul McKeever

 

The video speaks for itself.

 

Within one minute after the peaceful arrival of two Canadians at the Niagara Falls constituency office of Canada’s Justice Minister, Rob Nicholson, a police officer (Constable Chris Stewart, Niagara Regional Police) arrives on motorcycle. He says he has been called to the scene. He asks that the video camera recording him be turned off. When the camera person refuses to do so, the officer – shockingly – asserts that the camera filming him is “interpreted as a weapon”.

 

Clearly, it appears the officer has been called by the constituency office of Canada’s Justice Minister, because he was not called by the two Canadians attempting to visit it. He knocks on the locked door of the Justice Minister’s constituency office. The staffer unlocks the door that she had locked when she saw the two Canadians approaching the office in their car. One of the Canadians – Jacob Hunter – says he will not remain outside the office, because – being a taxpayer-funded office of a member of Parliament – it is a public space. The police officers turns, smacks a video or phone device out of Mr. Hunter’s hand, presses him back by the throat area, then sweeps behind Mr. Hunter and slaps on the cuffs claiming – falsely – that Mr. Hunter has assaulted him. Read more »

By. Jodie Emery, Free Marc Campaign

 

The FREE MARC EMERY campaign attended Justice Minister Rob Nicholson's office in Niagara Falls, Ontario, on Thursday, June 10th. Head organizer and BC Civil Liberties director Jacob Hunter was immediately assaulted and arrested by a Niagara Falls Policeman.

 

The FREE MARC campaign was at Conservative MP Rob Nicholson's constituency office to stage an "occupation" sit-in protest, similar to dozens that have taken place across Canada. The protests are a response to the extradition and imprisonment of Canadian activist, businessman, and BC Marijuana Party leader Marc Emery.

 

Marc Emery was extradited to the US for a 5-year federal prison sentence for selling seeds, even though he never left Canada. Vancouver police failed to have him charged here in 2003, then worked with US law enforcement to have him charged down there in 2005. Rob Nichsolson signed the extradition order himself on May 10th, 2010, which is the reason he was targeted by the FREE MARC campaign. Read more »

Jacob Hunter and Eric Compaton were arrested today for peacefully protesting. Well, we're out! Video will be available soon!

 

More details, and lawsuits, to come.

 

-Jacob Hunter

 

  Read more »

 

10 June 2010

For Immediate Release

 

Jacob Hunter, the Foundation's Policy Director, was arrested today at Justice Minister Rob Nicholson's constituency office in Niagara, ON.  Mr. Hunter was there as part of a continuing series of protests being held at the offices of Conservative Members of Parliament by supporters of Marc Emery, a Canadian citizen a political activist recently extradited from Canada to the United States.  Another individual was apparently also arrested at the scene.  This is the first protest at which arrests have been made.

  Read more »

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Beyond Prohibition Foundation

June 3, 2010

 

Quebec Police today conducted raids every medical marijuana dispensary in Quebec. Confirmation of police raids from Montreal Compassion Centre, the oldest dispensary in Quebec, as well as the other 2 clubs, Montreal Compassion Club and Quebec (City) Compassion Centre. This followed last months police raids of medical marijuana dispensaries in Toronto and Guelph. Legitimate Dispensaries in Canada use the same strict protocols to ensure only legitimate medical marijuana users access their services.

 

"These are sick and dying people, patients, whose only relief is from medical marijuana. Why on earth would Quebec police act so callously?" said Jacob Hunter, Policy Director of the Beyond Prohibition Foundation, "Courts have ruled these patients have a right to access medical marijuana, a right Health Canada ignores for hundreds of thousands of Canadians. These Dispensaries serve the thousands of patients unable to access Health Canada's byzantine system, and most importantly, the courts have acknowledged this fact" Read more »

It's been a very busy couple of weeks, so there haven't been enough regular updates to the website. Thanks to the kind donation of a 3G internet stick by the Cannabis Dispensary Society, I will now be able to update WhyProhibition.ca from the road, and from inside Conservative MP offices.

 

For those of you who haven't seen it, we have been staging Sit-ins across Canada as part of the Free Marc Emery campaign. While not directly a project of WhyProhibition.ca, the Free Marc Emery campaign obviously has a lot of cross-over with what we do.

 

In addition to helping with the Free Marc Emery campaign, we are working hard to battle S-10, Stephen Harper's new mandatory minimum sentencing bill. We need a lot of help to get people out and active to stop S-10! On June 4, assemble at your local Member of Parliament's office and hold a protest outside. If they're Conservative, they let people know how the Conservative party is going to have to raise taxes to pay for S-10. Read more »