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'Prince of Pot' to plead guilty to charge in US

VANCOUVER - Pot activist Marc Emery will drop his fight against extradition and plead guilty in the U.S. to a single charge of distributing drugs.

"I'm going to be making a guilty plea in Seattle in six to eight weeks," Emery told 24 hours.

"Then I will be sentenced on that guilty plea sometime in August or September."

Emery said he decided not to fight against his extradition, in a hearing that was supposed to happen this month, because he would have likely lost.

"The Canadian government has never refused a U.S. request to extradite," Emery said.

Emery said he expects the District Attorney in the U.S. Attorney's Office for the Western District of Washington to seek a federal sentence of 5-8 years in prison.

"Jail time is very likely and certainly very possible," said Emery, who said he plans to write a book (tentatively titled "100 Chapters"), learn French and Spanish, and get a job inside the prison - if he's sentenced.

Emery said he would seek to transfer to a Canadian prison to serve his time, claiming that U.S. authorities have promised not to oppose a transfer.

Officials with the U.S. Attorney's Office haven't yet responded to a request for comment.

Emery was first arrested in July 2005 in Halifax, after RCMP executed a warrant issued by the Western District of Washington, following an 18-month U.S. investigation into his marijuana seed selling business.

Emery and his co-defendants were charged with conspiracy to distribute marijuana, conspiracy to distribute marijuana seeds and conspiracy to engage in money laundering, charges that carried penalties ranging from 10 years to life in prison.

In April, Emery's co-defendants, Michelle Rainey and Greg Williams, agreed to a plea agreement involving a sentence of two years probation.

Irwin Loy reports for Vancouver 24 hours

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