COPS LOVE TO HATE B.C. POT

Rise In Smuggling Triggers Blitz

LYNDEN, Wash. - They toss it across the border inside footballs. They
float it down from British Columbia in hollowed logs equipped with
electronic homing beacons.

But most marijuana smugglers simply tote the stash over on foot in that
most Canadian of accoutrements - the hockey bag.

"They're just big, long, black bags full of dope," said Wes Vanderheyden,
head of the U.S. Border Patrol in this small town.

B.C. is home to a $4-billion industry that grows pot four times stronger
than the stuff from Mexico.

U.S. border patrol officials see Vancouver as pot-tolerant with a
reputation for being the "Amsterdam of North America."

Vancouver police, however, while looking the other way when it comes
discreet pot smoking, have clearly had enough of the "Amsterdam" label and
are shutting down businesses and coffee shops that deal openly in cannabis.

Where they once focused on heroin and cocaine, they've switched to a war on
pot in the wake of a boom in smuggling as Hells Angels and other gangs
muscle in on the trade.

'ORGANIZED CRIME'

Now cops on both sides of the border are joining forces in an unprecedented
crackdown on marijuana.

"This is not your normal dope that everybody thinks of, you know, back in
the '60s," said Dave Keller, a Border Patrol intelligence official. "The
smuggling we're seeing is ... clearly organized crime for profit."

RCMP Staff Sgt. Chuck Doucette said he can excuse his U.S. counterparts'
frustration with Canadians' apparently lax attitude toward pot.

"We are much more compassionate toward our users than they are in the
U.S.," he said. "We believe in diverting people into treatment."

Almost daily in recent months, there have been police raids on marijuana
plantations in Vancouver.

At the same time, U.S. agents have seized almost 600 kilos, Keller said.

But even the police admit that's just a drop in the bucket.

"If you're clever and you plan, you're going to get it over," said Marc
"Prince of Pot " Emery, who publishes a B.C. magazine about cannabis and
sells marijuana seeds on the Net.

"Those who get caught are cocky and quick opportunists. You really have to
be stupid to get caught."