editorial comment "Stay the course!" as the captain of the Titanic said......

The United States will continue to pursue its war on drugs across international boundaries, says a key U.S. player in the case of pot activist Marc Emery.

Jeff Sullivan, chief of the criminal division with the U.S. Attorney's Office for the Western District of Washington, tells 24 hours the U.S. needs to stem the inflow of drugs - even if it means going to other countries to do it.

The U.S. Attorney's Office is hunting Emery for charges related to selling marijuana seeds to American customers through his online business, www.emeryseeds.com.

"These are not somebody growing two or three plants for their own use," Sullivan said in an interview yesterday. "These are significant grow-ops."

Sullivan compared the case to his country's pursuit of Colombian "drug lords" that export cocaine to the States.

But not all Americans support their country's drug policy, according to Bob and Rose, Texan tourists who didn't want their full names used.

"There's no reason the U.S. should come here and interfere," said Bob, as he sipped a can of pop inside the New Amsterdam Cafe on Hastings.

"I don't see how they can prosecute [Emery]."

Both said they felt persecuted in their own country by harsh attitudes about marijuana.

Meanwhile, next door at Emery's marijuana bookstore, Emery supporters were working for free to raise money for his defence. Emery faces life in prison if he's extradited to the U.S. That process, which began with his bail hearing this week, could take up to two years.

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