MARIJUANA CLAIMS INFLAME FERRY SPAT

Transport Board, B.C. Ferries Locked In Increasingly Bitter War Of Words

It was tempting to call B.C. Ferries president David Hahn about the
federal warning that his crews are smoking dope.

Not in the hope he'd respond.

Just to hear someone say the immortal Cheech and Chong line: "Dave's
not here, man."

The comedy routine about two addled dopers is the perfect backdrop
for the next bizarre lurch in the Queen of the North saga.

The Transportation Safety Board felt moved yesterday to issue an
official frown at the idea of B.C. Ferries crews smoking marijuana.

You can feel people all over the country nodding with the first
glimmer of comprehension. Of course, they're thinking. It's B.C.
Perfectly natural to assume "We're sailing" means something different out here.

What creased the TSB's brow was the discovery during the
investigation into the Queen of the North sinking that "several crew
members regularly smoked cannabis between shifts, both on board and
off the vessel."

The mind reels at the implications. The warning heightens the
anticipation of what the bridge's data recorder might eventually reveal.

"Dude, did you say: 'We're going to hit a reef?'"

"No, man, I said: 'Give me a hit off that reefer.'"

The first inclination is to latch on to the demon weed as the
explanation for the enduring mystery surrounding the sinking.

The ship sailed in a straight line for 14 tranquil minutes right
smack into an island at cruising speed.

What else could explain that, other than the placid, calming
influence of B.C. bud?

So far we've heard whispers of a romantic entanglement among the
people on the bridge, evidence that music was playing on the radio
and that lights were turned down low. Now they've thrown dope into the picture.

That's all three waypoints on the route to damnation -- sex, drugs
and rock'n'roll.

The TSB doesn't like the idea that crews on board vessels carrying
thousands of people are getting high.

As the safety board chairman explained somewhat plaintively, "Ferry
crews whose performance is impaired by cannabis are a clear risk to
the traveling public."

But that's jumping to conclusions.

Once it raised suspicions, the TSB was quick to dampen them down.

"The board stressed that there is no evidence that the crew members
on the bridge at the time of the accident were impaired."

So the muttered admissions that B.C. bud is not unknown to the ferry
crews that sail to and fro past the vast plantations where it thrives
are just in the background mix.

Why they would get highlighted in a communique that stresses dope had
nothing to do with the sinking is where the story gets interesting.
And serious.

Because it illustrates the intensity of the guerrilla warfare between
the TSB and the ferry corporation that's been running since the accident.

The federal investigators locked horns with B.C. Ferries' own
investigators early on and things have been going downhill ever since.

They wound up in court over an absurd argument about who has the
right to say what about the electronic data recovered from the bridge.

They reached some kind of accommodation, but the TSB successfully
stonewalled the corporation when it sued for the right to get what it
considers its own information back from the board.

The board's newfound concern about marijuana could apply to the
operators of any kind of public transportation right across Canada.

Why does it come out now?

It's a shot across the bow.

The TSB is trying to embarrass B.C. Ferries as part of the ongoing
background arguments over the sinking.

The TSB pointedly said it's up to the ferry corporation to find out
how much dope-smoking is going on.

"The board further encouraged B.C. Ferries to address the issue without delay."

The corporation, in turn, politely threw it right back at the TSB.

The muted response was: If the TSB is so concerned about dope, why
doesn't it introduce mandatory drug and alcohol testing?

U.S. public transport employees can be subject to random drug
testing, but not Canadians.

The corporation wanted to test the entire crew as soon as they were
rescued from the ship, but the idea was grounded by the legalities.

B.C. Ferries said yesterday it has all the obvious policies you'd
expect, and says it regularly reminds employees that drug or alcohol
use on duty is a firing offence.

They've even fired a few people in isolated cases where impairment
has been established.

Nonetheless, the TSB will still be watching for some kind of war on
drugs. The board served notice it will be "monitoring progress made
by B.C. Ferries on this issue." And it will include the dope issue in
its final report.

Even though, as the TSB itself stresses, it had nothing to do with the sinking.

It's a colourful new chapter, but it's a sidelight.

It's more interesting for what it reveals about the state of
relations between the federal investigators and the company than it
does about the role drugs played.