Alex Reid

The man who put Marc Emery behind bars is advocating for the legalization of marijuana.

John McKay was a Federal Prosecutor, appointed in 2001 by President George Bush, when the case of Marc Emery came to him.

Emery sold cannabis seeds globally through a Vancouver-based catalogue company. He was arrested in 2005, and extradited to Seattle, convicted and sent to jail in 2010. He is currently serving a five-year sentence in Mississippi.

On a side note, McKay was one of the Federal Prosecutors let go in the dismissal of U.S. Attorneys controversy in 2007. He briefly served as senior vice president and general counsel to Getty Images, and since has returned to private law.

Now he’s on side with marijuana legalization.

Stop the Violence BC, a coalition of academic, legal, law enforcement and health experts out to overturn the law, organized a press conference with McKay, former B.C. attorney-general Geoff Plant and Emery’s wife Jodie.

McKay says that it was his job to prosecute Emery, but now that he’s no longer a Federal Attorney, he’s free to speak his mind.

“The criminal marijuana prohibition is a complete failure,” said McKay. ”The problem posed by the vast criminal marijuana black market is a threat to public safety both in the United States and Canada. It’s time to rethink our criminalization and prohibition policy.” – John McKay

McKay brings a lot of clout to the lobby not just because he’s a staunch Republican, but because he has an excellent reputation among law enforcement officials on both sides of the border. McKay not only cites the tax grab that both countries could take in, but is promoting the savings to law enforcement.

McKay noted that both Washington and Colorado will vote soon to legalize small quantities of pot for adults, with another 14 states at various stages in a move to decriminalize pot – essentially issuing the equivalent of a traffic ticket for marijuana possession.