FERRY PASSENGERS SPLIT ON FAIRNESS OF POT BUST

WEST VANCOUVER -- They agreed it was sneaky, but passengers waiting for the
Nanaimo ferry Thursday were split on whether or not police should have been
allowed to prowl the decks with spliff sniffing dogs.

"It was sneaky -- very sneaky. And if they had given people some warning
they were doing it, it would have been alright," said Christie Allen, 29.

"I guess they know now that police are going to do that, so I think it is OK."

"No, no," said her travelling companion, Oliver Flaser, 33. "I think it is
wrong. It is an infringement of your rights. The police were stepping way
over the line. We still have a right to privacy."

"That's right," said Surrey's Mark Price, 49, as he sat a few cars farther
up the line waiting for the sailing from Horseshoe Bay to Nanaimo. "The
next thing, they will be saying they can put a camera in my house to see if
I am doing something illegal.

"I'm not. And I don't have any drugs in the car," Price added.

But Mark's wife, Caroline, argued that the ferry is an extension of the the
highway and police had a right to pull people over to check to see if they
had been drinking.

Malcolm Aikman, who is retired, joked that the only drugs he was carrying
was a pack of cigarettes.

"But if someone is stupid enough to transport drugs, then they should be
arrested," said Aikman.