VANCOUVER - Canada's so-called "Prince of Pot" has been extradited to the United States to serve a five-year prison sentence for shipping millions of marijuana seeds to Americans.
Marc Emery, 52, plans to plead guilty to one count of conspiracy to manufacture marijuana.
Emery was driven from a Metro Vancouver jail to the Washington state border Thursday, where he was handed over to U.S. authorities.
He appeared in U.S. District Court in Seattle and agreed to remain in custody until a plea hearing Monday.
Emery was arrested in the U.S. in 2005 and a Seattle grand jury indicted him on marijuana conspiracy and money laundering charges. Before his arrest, Emery claimed to have made $3 million a year with his mail-order marijuana business.
Richard Troberman, Emery's attorney, said his client will plead guilty to the conspiracy count in exchange for the five-year sentence.
Earlier this month, Justice Minister Rob Nicholson announced his decision to send Emery to the U.S., ending a years-long extradition battle.
Emery's wife, Jodie, and about 60 supporters staged a rally in front of her husband's Cannabis Culture store in Vancouver Thursday. They waved marijuana-leaf flags and shouted "Free Marc Emery."
Immigration Minister Jason Kenney said Thursday that Emery had been given every benefit under Canadian law.
"I believe this case has been challenged and upheld by the courts," Kenney told reporters in Calgary.
"We're not the Wild West where somebody can just avoid facing criminal sanctions in another country where they have been convicted. Just because somebody is high profile and a bit of a celebrity doesn't mean that they are exempt from the criminal sanctions for acts that they committed."
Kirk Tousaw, Emery's Canadian lawyer, said he plans to ask U.S. authorities to let his client serve his sentence in a Canadian jail under treaty agreements.
"It's a dark day for Canada," he said. "Now the fight begins to bring him home."
Two of Emery's Cannabis Culture employees pleaded guilty in U.S. District Court in Seattle last year to conspiracy to manufacture marijuana and were sentenced to probation.
