B.C. REMAINS POT CAPITAL OF CANADA

VANCOUVER -- It's known as the marijuana capital of Canada, a haven
for potheads, where grow-ops spring up at such a rate that police
can't keep up with the multibillion-dollar industry that rivals
tourism and forestry with its economic clout.

It's British Columbia, where the words "This bud's for you" have
nothing to do with beer.

B.C.'s international reputation as a mecca for marijuana has been
further solidified after Canadian and U.S. law enforcement officials
discovered a secret tunnel beneath the Canada-U.S. border to smuggle
- -- what else? -- pot.

Three B.C. men have been charged in Washington state with conspiracy
to distribute and import marijuana after the tunnel -- longer than a
football field and complete with ventilation and electricity -- was
used to sneak across their first load of cannabis.

American officials have busted 33 cross-border tunnels between Mexico
and Arizona but the one discovered last week was the first between
Canada and the U.S., said Jeff Eig, spokesman for the Drug
Enforcement Administration, Seattle field division.

Construction of the north-south tunnel is a likely sign that
increased enforcement by Border Patrol and the Department of Homeland
Security since 9-11 is so effective that B.C. smugglers had to go
underground, Eig said.

Pot activist Marc Emery, dubbed the Prince of Pot by American media,
said the sophisticated tunnel will only inflate Vancouver's
reputation for weed.

"It will remind Americans that we're producing pot and we're trying
to get it to them in any way possible. I was crushed to discover (the
tunnel) had been discovered so early in its history," quipped Emery,
who has twice made a run for mayor of Vancouver and is founder of the
B.C. Marijuana party.

The pot politician, who has made millions with his marijuana seed
business, also founded Cannabis Culture magazine and Internet-based Pot-TV.

Insp. Paul Nadeau, of the RCMP's Co-Ordinated Marijuana Enforcement
Team, said police are well aware of the activities at three
businesses in the gritty part of Vancouver that borders on the city's
Downtown Eastside.

Anyone smoking marijuana can be charged with possession while those
selling it can be on the hook for trafficking, Nadeau said.