"US Threatens Canada Over Marijuana Decriminalization"

Tim Harper,
The Toronto Star, May 3, 2003. 08:36 AM

U.S. drug czar John Walters says Ottawa is wrong to consider decriminalizing
simple possession of marijuana.

Pot plan puts U.S. noses out of joint

Trade at risk, warns drug czar

Decriminalization called a mistake

WASHINGTON-Welcome to the latest flashpoint in Canada-U.S. relations, one
that has nothing to do with regime change or war and everything to do with
pot.Even as the wounds from a winter of bilateral discontent fester, Washington
this week sharpened its attack on Prime Minister Jean Chrétien's plans to
decriminalize marijuana, indicating a move most Canadians are prepared to
accept with a shrug is seen as an affront to the administration of U.S.
President George W. Bush.

John Walters, Bush's drug czar, said the Liberal government hasn't done its
homework in studying data to justify the move and accused Ottawa of allowing
"poison" to be shipped to his country.

He implied the Chrétien Liberals were naïve and have no plans to deal with
the "explosion" of high-potency pot - which he called the crack cocaine of
marijuana - being grown in British Columbia, Manitoba, Quebec and Ontario.

The U.S. threat is clear. If Chrétien doesn't blink, the U.S. will have to
slow down the movement of goods across the border.

Walters said a flood of Canadian pot moving south becomes an American
problem, meaning increased border patrols.

"You expect your friends to stop the movement of poison to your
neighbourhood," Walters said. "And that is what's going on here. If we were
sending toxic substances to your young people, you would be and should be
upset."

In short, Canada is being seen in some quarters here as a pot-crazed,
irresponsible nation living in the late 1960s.

First, we're soft on Saddam. Now, we're soft on pot.

Canadian officials privately believe it is Washington that's stuck in a time
warp, taking the world back to an earlier era of Reefer Madness.

When a Canadian Senate committee called for legalization of pot and the
House of Commons followed with a recommendation of decriminalization, there
were gusts of displeasure from Walters and his colleagues, but nothing like
this week's gale of protest. In Vancouver, where the city is working to open
up the first injection site for drug users, David Murray, an assistant to
Walters, went further on threats of border slowdowns. He said it would be
"regrettable" to see the "loss of the mutual co-operative partnership we've
had with Canadians regarding our borders, regarding the integrity of the
hemisphere, regarding our commerce, regarding the implications of trade and
value to ourselves."

In Canada, where decriminalizing pot possession has been off and on the
public agenda for more than three decades, the first impulse was to ignore
the complaints from the south, but that also changed this week.

"The difficulty we have with Mr. Walters' comments is, are they driven by
ideology or are they based on facts?" said Richard Mosley, a federal justice
official in charge of criminal law policy. "On the evidence, the
decriminalization experience in some states, Australia and Western Europe
does not increase the use of cannabis."

There is a huge gulf in philosophy toward marijuana control between Canada
and the U.S., Mosley said.

"The United States has zero tolerance to possession and trafficking, while
the approach of many other countries is to try to reduce the harm," he said.
"The approach in the U.S. has been to absolutely prevent the use of
cannabis."

Marijuana possession will still be illegal in Canada, Mosley says, and this
country is not shirking any of its international responsibilities toward
drug control. Other sources have indicated that any move to decriminalize
possession would come in tandem with a crackdown on large-scale growing
operations which have sprung up in Ontario and British Columbia.

"We have to keep things in perspective," Mosley said. "The amount of
cannabis produced in Canada is a small proportion of that produced
domestically by the United States or smuggled into the United States from
other countries."

According to the United Nations, 2 per cent of the cannabis seized worldwide
in 2002 was nabbed in Canada, while 5 per cent came from the United States
and 46 per cent came from Mexico.

The Chrétien government has studied the Australian model, in which tickets
are issued for those charged with marijuana possession.

A Canadian analysis of the Australian laws showed no increase in cannabis
use.

As many as 14 U.S. states have also loosened marijuana laws, and some have
eliminated the possibility of jail for possession since the 1970s.

None of that matters to Walters.

"The RCMP tells me privately that they are frustrated that the political
leadership in Canada simply does not support stiff sentences and simply
hasn't come to grips with this problem," he said in the interview. "If you
look at anywhere in the world, at any time in history you want, when you
reduce the deterrent forces in society for using drugs, you get more drug
use and you get more drug trafficking."

He also said it is "particularly troubling" that -- in his view -- Canadian
officials have admitted to him there is no reliable data in Canada about how
many people smoke pot, how many people are dependent on it and what age
groups use it.

Justice Minister Martin Cauchon told reporters this week there are 100,000
cannabis users in Canada, although he did not define the term "user."

"In the absence of any data, there is apparently a certainty that
decriminalizing doesn't cause trafficking, despite every single example
everywhere in the world is the reverse," Walters said.

Walters used an analogy many Canadians might find amusing -- gun control. If
laws were relaxed on possession of illegal weapons, he asked, does anyone
believe there would be a decrease in gun crime?

"That would be ludicrous. The same principle applies to drugs," he said.

U.S. Ambassador Paul Cellucci told reporters in Ottawa yesterday the
decriminalization of pot could cause tensions at the border if there is a
perception it has become easier to get hold of marijuana in Canada, the
Star's Allan Thompson reported.

"No one has seen the proposal yet," he said. "Does it actually make it more
difficult to get marijuana? Is the enforcement of the civil penalty going to
be a strong one? Are the criminal penalties for those who grow marijuana,
are they going to be strengthened?

"I think it comes down to a perception. If the perception is that it might
be more easy to get marijuana here, then that could lead to some pressure on
the border because U.S. customs and immigration officers are law enforcement
officers. And they would have their antenna up as people were going over
from Canada and into the United States."

Asked about U.S. concerns, Deputy Prime Minister John Manley said, "We do
need to have a discussion with the United States about it to make sure that
they understand what it is we intend to do," the Star's Les Whittington
reported.

Manley said Ottawa "believes this approach could enable more resources to be
directed to enforcement against trafficking and production, which ought to
reduce the problem rather than contribute to it."

He said U.S. concerns could cause slowdowns at the border if
decriminalization in Canada increases the likelihood of more trafficking of
the illegal drug into the U.S. But "I don't think we have evidence that
decriminalization of the possession of small amounts of marijuana is
necessarily going to lead to increased smuggling. I think that's a bit of a
leap."

Walters praised efforts of the Mexican and Colombian governments, saying
they have made efforts to cut into the cocaine trade while the Canadian pot
situation "is out of control.

"I've heard a lot of people in Canada talking about how they are doing this
because there are people clogged in the criminal justice system with
possession charges," Walters said.

"We don't lock up people for possession here. We have serious criminals in
jails here."