U.S. DRUG CZAR TARGETS CANADIAN POT

Potency Increasing: Says Tougher Laws Needed to Fight Marijuana Cultivation

WASHINGTON - The number of American teenagers and adults ending up in
emergency wards or seeking treatment because of marijuana use has
soared in recent years and seems linked to "dramatically" growing
imports of high-potency Canadian canabis, the White House drug czar
said yesterday.

John Walters estimated the industry is also funnelling "billions" of
dollars into the pockets of organized crime north of the border and
said Canadian prosecutors tell him they need tougher laws to combat
the marijuana-growing bonanza.

"It has grown dramatically," he said of the northern marijuana trade.
"The question that is always on our side of the border, and on theirs,
when these problems arise is: 'How many more people will suffer until
we are able to change the trend line?' "

The elevated THC content -- the intoxicating ingredient -- of Canadian
marijuana means it can no longer be considered a soft drug, argued Mr.
Walters, director of the White House Office of National Drug Control
Policy.

His concerns, voiced at a news conference, reflect a growing anxiety
among some politicians and government officials in the United States
about Canada, a country not traditionally viewed as a major supplier
of drugs.

The export of Ecstasy pills made in Canadian labs and of the chemical
ingredients of illicit narcotics, like methamphetamine, have also
caught the attention of the Americans, as underlined in a State
Department report issued last week.

But yesterday Mr. Walters focused on the marijuana problem and how, he
contends, it is affecting young people in the United States.

The number of Americans admitted to hospital emergency wards because
of marijuana use has doubled to 120,000 annually in the last five
years, he said. Meanwhile, the number of teenagers seeking treatment
for marijuana dependency has grown to the point where it is more than
for all other drugs combined, including alcohol.

The phenomenon has paralleled a growing potency of marijuana available
in the North America, from that containing 1% to 2% THC less than a
decade ago, to between 8% and 9% and, in some cases, 20% or more in
recent years, he said.

Other countries, like Mexico, also supply such high-powered marijuana,
Mr. Walters acknowledged.

"But the big new factor on the scene is ... the enormous growth of
very-high-potency marijuana coming from Canada."

He said most people, especially those who grew up in the 1960s and
1970s, view marijuana as a soft drug that does not warrant much
concern. But the higher potency means that one in five pot-smoking
Americans age 12 to 17 progress to needing treatment or "intervention"
for marijuana abuse.

Mr. Walters praised the co-operation that American authorities have
had from Canadian police, especially the RCMP, which he described as
"one of the finest police organizations in the world."

But he said prosecutors have told him that the current Criminal Code
penalties are not stiff enough to deter marijuana-cultivation
criminals and "without the ability to use more extensive enforcement
pressure, they're concerned about how this will continue to grow."

Denise Rudnicki, a spokesman for federal Justice Minister Irwin
Cotler, noted that new legislation before Parliament that would
de-criminalize simple possession of marijuana would also double
maximum penalties for those running marijuana growing operations to 14
years from seven.

Public Safety Minister Anne McLellan has said that judges need to get
tougher on those behind marijuana-growing, and suggested that the
marijuana bill could be further strengthened.

A spokesman for the Canadian Embassy in Washington said yesterday that
Canadian marijuana still accounts for only 1% to 2% of the product
sold in the United States., while Canada imports most of its cocaine
from the United States.