INSUFFICIENT POSTAGE EXPOSES MARIJUANA BY MAIL SCHEME

VANCOUVER - Residents in a Vancouver suburb opening their morning mail
have been getting a surprise gift -- a letter stuffed with a sizable
bag of marijuana.

The letters have been arriving as return mail, leading to fears that
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.

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

"If for any reason it's returned, guess where it's returned to. It's
returned to the address on the envelope," she said.

In each case, she said, the letters were bound for U.S. addresses, but
didn't have enough postage.

"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," Ms.
Taulu said.

One of the hapless victims is an elderly couple, she
said.

"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."

Vancouver Police could not confirm whether an investigation is under
way.

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 mailbox."