POTENT MJ ROLLS INTO U.S. ACROSS NORTHERN BORDER

Canada's Lax Laws Frustrate Enforcers

BLAINE, Wash. -- For decades the drug smuggling war has raged to the
south in dusty Mexico border towns or along the sparkling waters of
the Caribbean.

But in the cool evergreen forests of the Pacific Northwest, a new
front has opened up thanks to a potent breed of pricey marijuana from
Canada. B.C. Bud is so sought after in the United States that it has
been known to trade on the street dollar for dollar with cocaine,
federal law enforcement officials say.

Named for its birthplace in British Columbia, the high-grade pot is
wreaking havoc on the once sleepy northern border. Enterprising
smugglers are using kayaks, horse trailers, Army trucks and even a
cage holding a live bear to sneak it into the United States. They tuck
packages into fish meal or coffee to avoid drug-sniffing dogs. Private
planes dip into U.S. airspace and drop hockey bags filled with the
stuff to couriers waiting in the woods on all-terrain vehicles.

Though seizures of marijuana along the southern U.S. border declined
in fiscal year 2002, along the northern border they exploded, soaring
more than 300 percent from the prior year, U.S. Customs and Border
Protection officials say. In exchange, shipments of cocaine, guns and
money are flowing north to Canada.

"It's the new frontier" said Peter Ostrovsky, an agent with
Immigration and Customs Enforcement who came to the Northwest after
working drug cases in Miami. "This is the only place in the United
States I've seen where there's two-way traffic. Drugs coming in and out."

The surge in seizures is due, at least in
part, to heightened security at the border in the wake of terrorist
attacks.

More car trunks are being popped, and sophisticated new X-ray
equipment allows agents to peek inside idling tractor-trailers without
opening a door. Margaret Fearon, port director at the border
checkpoint in this small outpost 30 miles south of Vancouver, said
when more vehicles are searched more drugs are found. But law
enforcement officials on both sides of the international boundary also
say the amount of drugs on the move has risen and is pushing eastward.

The situation is so serious that the U.S. Drug Enforcement
Administration stationed an agent in Vancouver. And the White House,
in its annual report on the global drug problem this year, singled out
Canada for the first time. Relaxed Laws Won't Help Things could get
worse now that Canada appears poised to decriminalize marijuana for
personal use. Canadian Prime Minister Jean Chretien's administration
introduced legislation in May that essentially would make possession
of small amounts of pot equivalent to a traffic ticket. But the bill
also would boost penalties for growing and trafficking marijuana.
Britain and Australia have made similar moves to lessen penalties for
marijuana possession, but Canada shares a 4,000-mile land border with
the United States, and American officials are not pleased.

Canada and the United States do about a $1 billion of trade a day, and
top U.S. officials have warned their Canadian counterparts that easing
marijuana laws could lead to heightened border inspections, said
Jennifer de Vallance, spokeswoman for the White House Office of
National Drug Control Policy. Royal Canadian Mounted Police are
struggling to control the explosion but admit their hands are tied by
a justice system notoriously lenient, when it comes to marijuana. Only
rarely do marijuana offenders do jail time in Canada, and when they do
it's for an average of a few months, said Sgt. Brian McDonald of the
RCMP's Greater Vancouver Drug Section. Most of the stiffer sentences
have been struck down by the appeals courts, he said.

"We are hurt by the Canadian Justice system. It's a gripe," RCMP
Superintendent Bill Ard said.

Police in Canada have had to make do with shutting down some of the
11,000 marijuana-growing operations, only to watch them spring up
again elsewhere.

Pot Smokers' Haven

In a sign of how permissive things have become, the counterculture
magazine High Times recently dubbed Vancouver its top destination for
getting good pot, noting that having an indoor marijuana growing room
is "almost as common as having a den."

In British Columbia, it's estimated B.C. Bud is a $2.8 billion-a-year
industry, raking in more than the total for the province's legitimate
agriculture industry combined.

The marijuana plants are carefully nurtured indoors hydroponically
rooted in water and nutrients, not soil -- often using high-tech
equipment to precisely regulate temperature and light so growers can
harvest up to six lucrative crops a year.

The resulting supercharged pot is worth about $2,000 a pound in the
Vancouver area. That price doubles once it crosses into the United
States. Once it's in Southern California, it can reach $6,000 a pound.

Why such a demand? the high is a lot higher. Woodstock-era marijuana
had a THC content, or potency, of 2 percent.

The current crop coming in from Mexico runs an average of 6
percent.

B.C. Bud's THC content can rise to 25 percent.

The trade is run largely by Vietnamese gangs and outlaw biker gangs
such as Hell's Angels. Competition among them has become increasingly
violent, fueled by guns streaming back into Canada as part of the
illicit drug trade, Ard said.

As security clamps down in western Washington State, some smugglers
have set their sights farther east on the more remote border in the
middle of the country and on border crossings in Detroit or Buffalo.

Some traffickers are attempting to trek through the rough terrain of
the Cascade i Mountains of the Pacific Northwest.

And Puget Sound, honeycombed with islands and winding inlets and
coves, is another popular route, where smugglers sometimes zip back
across the border into Canada's water and wave at their; American pursuers. |

"It's a smugglers paradise," said Mike Butz, in charge of the Coast
Guard cutter Wahoo, which patrols the area.

Other traffickers have grown more creative.

A stash of B.C. Bud recently was found in the cage of a large black
bear, allegedly being transported to Hollywood for a movie.

The haul from Canada still pales in comparison to the tonnage flowing
in from Mexico and other points south.

In fiscal year 2002, 19,405 pounds were seized on the northern border,
compared with 1.2 million pounds on the southwest border, Customs
figures show.

Aiming At The Top

But Customs agents along the northern border said that doesn't take
into account the crop's value.

Canada's pot can be six to 20 times more expensive than the Mexican
variety,according to U.S. drug enforcers.

U.S. and Canadian officials are working cooperatively to go after the
ringleaders.

The problem: U.S. penalties are tougher, and most kingpins are in
Canada. John McKay, U.S. attorney in Seattle, said they are working on
better extradition procedures and better timing of arrests.

"There's a clear understanding that in some of these cases it's a lot
better to let them get arrested in the United States," McKay said.

McKay's focus on getting at the top of the smuggler's organization
means at least some traffickers are getting a slap on the wrist in
exchange for information.

"We're hoping this leads us higher up the food chain. That's how you
attack this: from the top," said Jeff Sullivan, chief of McKay's
criminal division.