U.S FEARS FREE-FLOW OF POT OVER BORDER

WASHINGTON -- The murder of four RCMP officers in Alberta last week
may or may not end up having much to do with the marijuana grow
operation the killer maintained. But the incident has still managed to
generate fresh irritation and fear in America over the growing flood
of potent Canadian pot into the U.S.

As if the two countries needed another irritant, the murders have only
underlined concern among officials and politicians here that Canada's
relatively lax treatment of grow-op criminals is fuelling the influx
of drugs.

There are calls for more agents at the northern frontier, and
parallels drawn between Canada and what has traditionally been
considered a much more lawless neighbour -- Mexico.

The fears were embodied in the headline for a recent front-page New
York Times article: Violent New Front in Drug War opens on the
Canadian Border.

The problem is especially bad in British Columbia, which is showing
early signs of becoming a "narco-province" along the lines of some
South American countries, charged Representative Mark Soude of
Indiana, chair of the congressional sub-committee on criminal justice,
drug policy and human resources.

"In British Columbia, one of the things they seem to be in a state of
denial about is that they have become a huge exporter of this really
lethal form of marijuana," he said in an interview. "It's close to
getting out of hand ... I feel sorry if four police officers died
because of the mistakes of politicians."

He acknowledged that the pot is being traded for cocaine and guns from
the U.S., but said the marijuana business is fueling that exchange.

Just a day after the killings in Mayerthorpe, Alta., the State
Department coincidentally released its annual report on the illegal
drug business around the world.

It concluded that Thailand is no longer a major drug-producing
country, praised Haiti for the anti-narcotics strides it has made --
and warned that lack of judicial sanctions is leading to a
"burgeoning" marijuana sector in Canada, managed by organized crime.
"We've tended to view Canada as our front door. And we've certainly
come to the point where we don't feel that we can leave the front door
unlocked any more," said Chris Sands, an expert on Canada at the
Centre for Strategic and International Studies in Washington. He
called the issue another example of the culture clashes erupting
between the two nations.