CANADA'S POTENT MARIJUANA RAISES WRATH OF U.S. DRUG CZAR

Number of Americans Needing Hospitalization Skyrocketing: Official

WASHINGTON - The number of Americans ending up seeking medical
treatment because of marijuana use has soared in recent years, and
seems linked to the "dramatically" growing influx of potent Canadian
marijuana, 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
grow-ops.

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

The elevated THC content -- the active ingredient in the drug -- 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.

A spokesman for the Canadian Embassy in Washington said yesterday that
Canadian marijuana still only accounts for one to two per cent of the
product sold in the U.S., while Canada imports most of its cocaine
from the U.S.

Mr. Walters' concerns, voiced at a news conference, reflect a growing
anxiety among some politicians and government officials in the U.S.
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, such as methamphetamine, have also
caught the attention of the Americans, as underlined in a State
Department report released last week.

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

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, he said.

The phenomenon has paralleled a growing potency of marijuana available
in North America, from containing one to two per cent THC less than a
decade ago, to eight to nine per cent and, in some cases, 20 per cent
or more in recent years, he said.

Other countries, such as 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. But the higher potency means
that one in five marijuana-smoking Americans age 12 to 17 progress to
needing treatment or "intervention" for marijuana abuse, he said.
"That was not the way marijuana use was moving a decade ago or two
decades ago."