CANADA WIDENS GAP WITH U.S. ON HANDLING OF ILLEGAL DRUG USE

VANCOUVER, British Columbia - In the heart of Downtown Eastside, where the
alleys are shooting galleries for heroin junkies using dirty needles, a
long-abandoned storefront recently reopened with a handmade sign out front
showing a clenched fist clutching a syringe and the words "Safer Injection
Site."

In the past three weeks, up to 25 drug users have come here every night to
shoot heroin and cocaine into their veins. They are supervised by a
registered nurse, who dispenses fresh needles, swabs, sterile water to cook
the drugs and advice on how to maintain veins.

The operation is technically illegal but is condoned by the new mayor,
Larry Campbell. He was elected in November by a landslide on a platform of
more treatment for addicts, more thorough law enforcement and regulated
injection sites. He has not yet received federal approval to open the
centers, but this privately financed center has opened to fill the gap.

The injection site, modeled after similar facilities in Australia, Germany,
Switzerland and the Netherlands, is the only one to operate openly in North
America. Its presence is just one sign that Canada's drug policies are
moving in a direction that diverges sharply from those in the United
States: to treat addiction more as a medical issue and less as one of law
enforcement.

Prime Minister Jean Chretien, in his waning months in office, has said he
plans to introduce legislation to decriminalize the possession of small
amounts of marijuana despite strong opposition from the Bush administration.

The government is also planning a research project among small groups of
heroin addicts in Toronto, Vancouver and Montreal to see whether crime and
health problems can be reduced among hard-core addicts by giving them
prescriptions to maintain their habit, as has been done in Switzerland.

"Canadians see things differently from Americans," Campbell, a former
police officer and city coroner, said in an interview last week. "The
philosophy here is that the drug problem that we have is a medical problem,
an addiction no different from gambling."

John Walters, the White House national drug control policy director, has
called the Vancouver proposal for regulated injection sites "immoral" and
"state-sponsored suicide," but he conceded it is a matter Canadians must
decide for themselves.

Attorney General John Ashcroft and Homeland Security Secretary Tom Ridge
have told Canadian officials in recent weeks that they are worried that a
partial decriminalization of marijuana in Canada could increase supplies of
the drug and smuggling into the United States. Walters has said the United
States might be forced to increase border security for protection.

"Nobody wants to punish Canada, but we have to take reasonable security
measures as the threat increases," he said in a telephone interview. "No
country anywhere has reduced penalties without getting more drug addiction
and more trafficking and all the consequences of that."

Walters said he learned from Canadian law enforcement officials that 95
percent of the high-potency marijuana produced in British Columbia, valued
at $4 billion to $6 billion annually, is being illegally shipped to the
United States.

Senior Canadian officials appear to be taking some U.S. concerns into
account as they move gradually in a direction that several Western European
countries have taken in dealing with drug addiction.

Officials have tinkered with recent drafts of the new marijuana
legislation, to lower the amounts of marijuana that can be possessed with
no more penalty than the equivalent of a traffic ticket: to 15 grams from
30 grams, or about 20 cigarettes. The officials said they are also
considering raising penalties for marijuana traffickers and producers.

In recent years, Canada has been criticized by U.S. officials for
legalizing the use of marijuana for medical purposes.

Canada has also moved more slowly than the United States has urged to
regulate precursor chemicals for synthetic drugs like Ecstasy.