POINT ROBERTS RESIDENTS' FORUM SLAMS CANADA'S 'LAX DRUG LAWS'

A U.S. prosecutor now says he has no evidence that marijuana seized at the
Peace Arch border crossing from a 16-year-old Point Roberts girl on a
school bus was B.C. pot.

Whatcom County deputy prosecutor Thomas Verge had told The Province earlier
this week that the pot appeared to be from B.C.

But that didn't stop Point Roberts residents from accusing Canada at a
community forum last night of having lax drug laws. "It's so easy and
entirely cheap to get marijuana in Canada that this problem isn't going to
stop," said resident Gary Kunze.

Whatcom County Sheriff Bill Elfo agreed. "Canada's lax drug laws contribute
to the situation," he said. "I think that's a decision that the Canadian
government is going to have to address. They're getting laxer and laxer and
they're starting to spill over into the U.S."

Nearly 200 parents and teens packed the Point Roberts Community Center last
night to address concerns of pot smuggling after Kaitlyn O'Neill, a Grade
10 Point Roberts girl, was arrested Feb. 20.

O'Neill is charged with possession of a controlled substance with intent to
deliver for allegedly transporting 3.6 kilograms of pot worth $25,000 US on
a school bus to Blaine, Wash.

This is the fourth case since October in which teens were allegedly used as
drug mules to smuggle pot suspected of originating from B.C. into the U.S.

Parents said the problem isn't new and that the police presence in Point
Roberts and at the border isn't strong enough.

"When something is so easy, how do you tell a 16-year-old, gee, don't grab
for it?" said parent Darlene Gibbs.

The U.S. Department of Homeland Security is probing the case because it
involved the border, Verge said.

"I don't think it's a matter of finger-pointing," he said. "It's a matter
of asking how could we let this happen? When you get to the point where
drug traffickers are using teenagers on their way to school to move drugs,
we've got a problem as a society . . . This case should make everyone very,
very sad."