BETTER PACK SOME BOOKS, MR. RICHARDSON

Another episode in the United States fanatical war on drugs will unfold in
the next day or two.

At the centre of the drama is 50-year-old lab technician Allan Richardson.
In 1971, Richardson (known then as Christopher Perlstein) fled a minimum
security work prison in Rochester, New York after serving three months of a
four-year prison term for selling $20 worth of LSD from his university
dormitory.

Richardson and made his way to Canada and set up a home in Vancouver in
1975, where he has lived a law abiding life ever since.

As this is written Wednesday morning, Richardson is expected to make a
last-ditch plea for leniency by offering letters of support from 100 friends
in Vancouver.

"All I'm hoping is that the judge and the rest of the (justice) system take
a broader view of our lives together," Richardson told the Globe and Mail on
Tuesday, with his wife Amalia at his side.

He said he will ask the court to consider the best interests of society and
added that he's anxious to return to work and to care for his wife, who has
been fighting breast cancer for the last seven years.

But I suspect Richardson's plea will fall on deaf ears, and he will be
forced to serve the remainder of the LSD charge plus a little extra for
skipping the country.

I say this because some American politicians and bureaucrats increasingly
see Canada as an open gateway for drugs and drug smugglers. In the last six
months, American authorities and several U.S. senators wanted to group
Canada with Mexico and Colombia.

Both Mexico, Colombia, and a few other nations, are labeled as major drug
exporting countries, which threaten the security of the United States. It
seems B.C. Bud is the major reason for the Americans' hard line.

Some last ditch efforts by Canadian diplomats and the government persuaded
U.S. officials to stop this course of action.

However, Mr. Richardson's plight gives the U.S. justice system and the Drug
Enforcement Agency a perfect opportunity to make a statement that America
will not tolerate drug use or drug traffickers.

It also gives anti-drug forces a prime opportunity to shake a finger at
Canada - the drug lenient country that we are - in order to show us how to
properly treat druggies and traffickers.

I say this because Monroe County Judge John J. Connell has already refused
two pleas by Richardson's lawyers to either dismiss the charges outright or
reduce the sentence. In fact, Connell ordered Richardson to surrender and
finish the original sentence.

Connell said Richardson needs to take responsibility for his actions and
shouldn't be rewarded for escaping.

I can appreciate where Connell is coming from. The U.S. doesn't want people
flouting its justice system by jumping security and running across the
U.S.-Canada border. For that matter, I'm sure Canada's law enforcement
officials don't want American criminals viewing this country as a
soft-touch.

I also suspect Connell is feeling the breath of the DEA on his neck.

That said, Richardson is a different kettle of fish. First off, he sold $20
worth of LSD and received a lengthy jail sentence. Today such an offence -
in Canada at least - would net a person a minor fine, particularly if they
had no previous criminal history.

To date, there has been no indication that Richardson was a repeat offender.
Clearly, Richardson is not a career criminal or he would have continued his
ways north of the border.

Richardson must have seen the error of his ways, because he has peacefully
lived in Canada for almost 30 years. I thought reforming the criminal is a
guiding principle of any justice system.

Furthermore, Richardson wasn't the only American to commit a crime and
illegally enter Canada. Thousands American draft dodgers, anxious not to
serve in for the Vietnam war but not wanting to spend time in jail, fled to
Canada. Many of these men, criminals in the eyes of the American government,
have contributed significantly to Canada.

President Jimmy Carter pardoned these folks because it was in the best
interest of society.

Letting Richardson off the hook would be in the best interest of Canadian
society.

However, I believe the American rabid anti-drug stance will not let
Richardson off the hook because its not in the best interest of the U.S. Mr.
Richardson better pack a few novels because he's going to have a lot of time
on his hands.