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News (Media Awareness Project) - Canada: Killings Pushed Buttons In U.S.
Title:Canada: Killings Pushed Buttons In U.S.
Published On:2005-03-08
Source:Vancouver Sun (CN BC)
Fetched On:2008-08-20 17:36:25
KILLINGS PUSHED BUTTONS IN U.S.

Murders Of Alberta Officers Underline American Fears

WASHINGTON -- The murder of four RCMP officers in Alberta last week may or
may not end up having much to do with the marijuana growing 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.

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.

"Stories like the one about the officers being murdered and increasing
violence associated with this trade are going to only make the Americans
think what we usually think about these things -- that we're right and
maybe you'll finally realize it."

He called the issue another example of the culture clashes that have been
erupting between the two nations as their trading relationship draws ever
closer, he said. While American police pursue crime aggressively and almost
competitively, they perceive Canadian law enforcement as more reactive, or
at least hampered by a lack of resources, said Sands.

The Canadian approach to drug enforcement is seen as similar to its more
lenient handling of immigration and the terrorism threat, he said.

The U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement agency has taken the Canadian
marijuana exports very seriously for some time; now it hopes the message
will sink in elsewhere, too, spokesman Marc Raimondi said Monday.

"We do sympathize and mourn the loss of our fellow law-enforcement
counterparts up there. But I think that if anything comes out of this, it
is the fact that growing and smuggling of marijuana is not a minor offence,
it is not a victimless offence. Look at this," he said.

"We should hope that all law enforcement and all governments would take
drug laws very seriously."

Starting with the development of the legendary B.C. bud in British
Columbia, the number of marijuana grow operations has exploded in the last
decade. Much of that product has flowed across the border into the United
States, a fact highlighted in last week's State Department report on world
narcotics trends.

Senator Patty Murray of Washington state is among the politicians who have
called for more policing of the northern border. "Washington state is being
ravaged by the influx of B.C. bud and meth," she said last fall.
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