CANPOST WEEDS OUT DRUGS

Mail Workers Getting Sharp At Detecting Illegal Shipments

OTTAWA -- The pot's in the post.

Canada's mail service has intercepted hundreds of illicit shipments
of drugs, booze, weapons and cigarettes in the last 16 months,
nabbing everything from Ecstasy en route to Happy Valley, Nfld., to
magic mushrooms and marijuana bound for the west.

Documents obtained by Sun Media under Access to Information show
Canada Post inspectors discovered crack cocaine, knockoff Gucci bags
and bottles of rum, whisky and vodka stuffed into parcels and
illegally sent in the mail between January 2007 and May 2008.

Nicole Lemire, spokeswoman for Canada Post, said employees are
well-trained to detect contraband goods, using a variety of methods
to spot dangerous and non-mailable items. But she would not divulge specifics.

MUM ON SPECIFICS

"It would be like telling people the combination to your safe, and
the more people you tell the less effective it becomes," she said.

Inspectors are always on the look-out for such things as traces of
powder, a leaking substance or a certain odour. The lack of a return
address or an incomplete recipient's address also raises eyebrows, she said.

"When suspicions do arise, we work with appropriate authorities," she said.

Non-mailable items include tobacco, firearms, perishable goods,
animals, plants and material considered obscene.

According to the lists obtained by Sun Media, packages with illicit
items have been destined for big cities and small towns from coast to
coast. Shipment sizes range from a few joints or bottles of booze to
a large-scale drug haul worth $1 million.

But the most common illicit shipments contain pot.

Pot activist and Cannabis Culture magazine publisher Marc Emery
believes the seized stashes represent a tiny part of the weed moving
through the postal service.

He said many Canada Post employees turn a blind eye to the contents,
while senders are getting more clever about how to disguise the weed.

"I think the amount of marijuana going through the mail is
dramatically higher than it ever has been," he said.

Unless they are a legal supplier of medicinal marijuana, senders
usually use bogus return addresses and store the goods in plastic
containers and vacuum sealing to elude detection. Canada Post is the
transport mode of choice, since courier companies require signatures,
Emery said.

"Unless you really believe your legal rights can be upheld in court,
you should avoid signing anything," he said. "Once you start signing
things, you are leaving a paper trail from who's sending it and receiving it."

APPROVAL NEEDED

Canada Post does not carry out routine inspections and can not open
any package without the approval of a senior postal inspector.
Suspect packages removed from the normal mail stream are sent to one
of two "undeliverable mail offices" in Toronto or Nova Scotia, while
illegal items are turned over to police.

On one on-line forum, writers trade tips on how to safely disguise
weed in the mail, including wrapping in duct tape then sprinkling in
powder and dipping in candle wax. Another recommends packing in
coffee beans to mask the smell of marijuana.

Lawyer Eugene Oscapella said some people likely choose mail because
it's cheaper and easier than other methods like personal delivery or
hiring mules.

"People use many methods of transporting drugs, and there's no reason
to think people wouldn't mail it," he said.