U.S. DRUG CZAR PRAISES CANADA

Ottawa - The American drug czar who once blasted Canada for
safe-injection sites and for exporting "the crack of marijuana" to the
U.S. was much more mellow Thursday during his first visit here in two
years.

A new roster of Conservative officials bent on tougher anti-drug laws
had something to do with it.

"The United States appreciates Canada's renewed focus on disrupting
organized criminal activity, and reducing illicit drug use and
trafficking," said John Walters, director of U.S. National Drug
Control Policy.

"I've seen terrific consensus here in my visit so far," he said. "I
think the debate that has been a source of friction has been obviously
less under the current administration."

Walters was speaking of the diplomatic war of words that flared under
the former Liberal regime over plans to decriminalize possession of
small amounts of pot.

The Stephen Harper Conservatives quickly axed that idea. They have
also proposed a roster of get-tough anti-drug measures that include
minimum mandatory sentences for trafficking and other serious offences.

Walters was in Canada for the first time since the Tories took power,
touting a U.S. drug policy that he said has cut overall drug use among
American teens by 23 per cent since 2001.