DON'T PUSH THE U.S. ON POT

America's war on drugs might be at odds with many Canadians' sensibilities
- -- might even, as pro-marijuana activists say, be out of control -- but it
was still right for Canadian police to arrest Marc Emery for allegedly
breaking the laws of the United States.

Emery leads B.C.'s Marijuana Party and runs a business selling mail-order
cannabis seeds. He and two associates were arrested Friday by Canadian
police acting for their U.S. counterparts. The three face no charges in
Canada, but could be extradited to the U.S. to be tried for conspiracy to
manufacture marijuana, conspiracy to distribute marijuana seeds and
conspiracy to engage in money laundering.

All the charges, which have not been proven in court, are believed to stem
from the mail-order business: U.S. authorities allege three-quarters of
Emery's business has been done with American customers.

Pro-marijuana activists protest that Canadian co-operation with the U.S.
Drug Enforcement Agency amounts to surrendering our sovereignty, to letting
the U.S. drug war dictate Canadian politics and law-enforcement at a time
when Canadians' attitude toward marijuana is softening. But imagine the
Canadian outrage if the roles were reversed -- imagine, say, a mail-order
gun dealer in Michigan shipping weapons to Canada and U.S. police, citing
the Second Amendment, refusing to do anything about it.

Canada is entitled to have its own legal position on marijuana, as it has
on guns, but we must also respect that our neighbours officially take a
different view. We owe each other co-operation in making sure the effects
of our differing values stay on our respective sides of the border.