POTHEADS IN POWER

Is This the Proper Time to Worsen Our Straitened Relations With The
U.S.?

I have strong views on many subjects but marijuana decriminalization
and use is not one of them. I don't really care if people smoke pot,
if a House of Commons special committee recommends that its use be
decriminalized, or if a justice minister promises to proceed to
legislate on this subject in the next few months. Fundamentally, this
is an unimportant subject.

But I do care when the United States drug czar, John Walters, says
that if Canada acts on decriminalization there will be delays at the
Canada-U.S. border while officials search for drugs. The present (and
past) American administration believes drugs are a major health and
public safety issue, that new varieties of marijuana are much more
harmful than the strains available 20 years ago, and that pot is an
entry level drug that streams users to harder, more dangerous drugs.
They may well be right, though the parliamentary committee obviously
disagrees

So what? Canada is a sovereign nation and we have the undeniable right
to determine our own policies on all subjects. If the United States
doesn't like our policy, too bad.

The difficulty with that all-too-typical Canadian bleat -- which most
recently has been uttered by Defence Minister John McCallum in
criticizing U.S. pressure for Canada to upgrade its defence spending
- -- is that the United States too is a sovereign country. If the
American government is concerned about the shipments of marijuana from
Canadian growers to the United States, it also has the undeniable
sovereign right to impose such controls as it wishes on its borders to
try to contain this problem. And it will.

What will the impact of increased searches at the border-crossing
points be? Delays for individuals and fewer trucks getting through
each hour. Canadian manufacturers send more than a billion dollars in
trade south each day and tens upon tens of thousands of travellers
drive, fly, bus or travel by train to the United States every 24
hours. In other words, what might the costs to business in dollars and
to travellers in time lost be to satisfy a parliamentary committee, an
ambitious justice Minister, and a (relatively) few potheads? The costs
will be huge.

The immediate reactions in Ottawa to John Walters' comments were of
the "who cares?" variety. The Attorney-General, Wayne Easter, for
example, played the standard politely anti-American/mind your own
business tune, noting that the American official "is entitled to his
opinion. We make our laws in this country based on the decisions and
debates in the House of Commons. Laws change as time goes on." In
other words, piss off.

Fair enough, but I do hope that someone in Ottawa, the government's
ministers and officials in charge of co-ordinating all aspects of
Canadian policy to the United States (if any such body of men and
women exists, which I doubt), are weighing the possible costs of
easing the laws on marijuana against the presumed benefits to Canada
and Canadian interests. A few more people in the capital need to
understand that the U.S. government already looks on Canada as an
unreliable partner, soft on terrorism, weakly defended, and now so
hopelessly addled by THC-laden smoke that it cannot recognize when
proposed policies on minor issues can seriously affect Canadian
national interests. Did anyone in the government think of this? Does
Justice talk to Foreign Affairs, National Defence, or the Privy
Council Office? Does anyone talk to Members of Parliament on committees?

Every sensible Canadian knows, even if the Chretien government too
often appears not to, that this country has critically important
issues at stake in its dealings with Washington, issues involving
trade, travel, border security, homeland defence, and possibly even
the manifold consequences of a war with Iraq. Is this the proper time
to worsen our already-straitened relations with the United States
merely to liberalize our pot laws? Just what are they smoking in Ottawa?