MARIJUANA MAIL A SPECIAL DELIVERY

VANCOUVER -- People opening their morning mail have been getting a
surprise gift -- a letter stuffed with marijuana.

The letters have been arriving in a Vancouver suburb as return mail,
with their name and address as the return address. But when they open
the envelope, the horrified residents have just received a sizeable
bag of dope.

They now fear drug traffickers are using their names and addresses to
run drugs through the mail.

Chris Taulu, who manages the Collingwood Community Policing Centre,
said she's had four letters cross her desk in the past couple of months.

Taulu figures each envelope contains enough pot for a half-dozen
joints.

She passed on the letters to Vancouver drug squad detectives. Taulu
also told Vancouver city councillors of her concerns last week.

"They borrow someone else's name and address as the return address,"
Taulu said. "If for any reason it's returned, guess where it's
returned to. It's returned to the address on the envelope."

When people open the envelopes, inside is a plastic bag of marijuana.
In each case, she said, the letters were bound for addresses in the
States, but didn't have enough postage.

"There's no letter inside, just the marijuana in a bag," said Taulu.
"Maybe they're just sending it out as samples. It's flat enough that
it will get through Customs. Maybe it's the new way of shipping."

One of the hapless victims is an elderly couple, Taulu says. "They
were just terrified," she said. "Someone had broken into their car and
stolen their registration."

Another man phoned 9-1-1 and was told to flush it down the toilet,
which he refused, until he handed the drugs over to police personally.

"They're law-abiding citizens. What they're afraid of is what happens
if it's a bigger pound of marijuana or cocaine, and the drug squad is
knocking at their door. They could be caught up in a raid. How do I
prove I didn't (do it). That's what's terrifying them."

Vancouver Police spokeswoman Const. Sarah Bloor could not confirm
whether an investigation is underway.

But if police received the letters, she said, there will be inquiries
made.

"They're obviously in receipt of the information," she said. "And
we'll have to look into it further."

Canada Post spokesman John Caines had never heard of the scam
before.

"But it doesn't mean it hasn't happened," he said from Ottawa. "There
are some people who use other people's addresses, and they get to the
mail before the people take it out of the mail-box."