U.S. DOESN'T SET OUR DRUG POLICIES

If Canada Chooses To Relax Its Pot Laws, That's No Business Of The American
Drug Czar

The czar of anti-drug enforcement in the U.S. told us Thursday that we in
Canada shouldn't lower the penalties for possession of pot because
marijuana is bad for us, especially if we're thinking of crossing the border.

Just to make sure we heard him, John Walters came all the way from
Washington to Buffalo to deliver his message, just as a committee of MPs
was recommending that people who possess or cultivate less than 30 grams of
pot should not face criminal prosecution, but a fine.

Walters, the director of the White House Office of National Drug Control
Policy, should have saved himself the trip. How we deal with drugs or any
other domestic issue is up to us, not the White House. The laws we pass
apply to our citizens, and how they are perceived in the U.S. or anywhere
else has nothing to do with it.

Canadian officials have gone out of their way to be nice to their American
counterparts, especially in dealing with cross-border traffic and crime
prevention. Only this week, just as Walters was shuffling up to Buffalo,
Canadian and American law enforcement agencies were putting the finishing
touches on an agreement to allow police in both countries instant access to
one another's criminal data bases.

Since that Sept. 11, we've co-operated closely with our neighbours'
anti-terrorism efforts. We've said we understand the need for better
vigilance on our common border. We've agreed to combine military forces
when the next terrorist attack comes, either here or there.

Walters was way out of line to lecture us about the evils of marijuana --
"it's bad for people in Canada and the consumption and dependence problems
it creates" -- because we know it's a problem, if not of the scale as seen
from the White House.

Walters also said decriminalization in Canada "makes security at the border
tougher because this is a dangerous threat to our young people." He's wrong
there, too.

The changes we're making don't apply to large grow operations, 95 per cent
of them, say the RCMP, producing for the U.S. market. They apply only to
marijuana grown for personal consumption, and if anyone is silly enough to
cross the border with a few joints of it, they deserve what they get.

That doesn't mean we should continue to be so lackadaisical in arresting
and punishing the growers and traffickers that Walters has reason to be
concerned about. National figures for 1999-2000 provided by the Statistics
Canada show that only one quarter of those caught trafficking in, growing
or importing marijuana were charged. One fifth of those caught with
marijuana in their possession were charged.

The average sentence for drug trafficking was less than three months; the
sentence for simple possession was no more than 15 days. Only one per cent
of those charged with trafficking in 2000 ended up in federal penitentiary.

Walters would like us to deal more harshly with the traffickers and
big-time growers, and we should. But we're dealing with our recreational
pot-smokers the way we think is appropriate, and Walters should butt out.