The U.S. government has failed in its bid to extradite 11 men from Quebec's Eastern Townships to Vermont to be tried on charges that they were part of a conspiracy to traffic in marijuana.

The decision to charge the men in Vermont rather than Quebec was made last year by Canadian and U.S. officials even before the men were arrested in raids on Township farms in June of 2005.

Mr. Justice James Brunton of the Quebec Superior Court said Wednesday police believed they were dealing with a criminal organization headed by Werner Kyling of Saint-Armand, Que.

But the evidence showed the organization didn't exist, Brunton said. Without an organization, there's no far-reaching drug conspiracy, and without a far-reaching conspiracy there can be no extradition, he said.

Kyling's lawyer, Thomas Walsh, said there was just one reason for the Canada-U.S. conspiracy strategy.

"By making it a large conspiracy, they can increase the poundage [of marijuana seized]. By increasing the poundage, they can increase the sentences. The sentences are all mandatory.

"It was very ambitious on their part, and I'm glad they tripped over their own shoelaces," Walsh said.

He said prosecutors shouldn't be allowed to change their minds now, and charge the men in Quebec.

"They've shot their bolt," he said. "They put these guys through hell for one year."

Canadians have decided what types of sentences drug traffickers should face, Walsh said, and cases that begin here should stay here.

He said he's waiting to see if prosecutors will appeal the judge's ruling, change the Vermont charges or lay charges in Quebec.