NOT A DRUG-FREE ZONE

Whatever may be the best approach to Canada's domestic drug policy, there
is no case for this country to become a major international producer and
supplier of illegal and restricted narcotics to the international market,
in particular to the U.S.

Yet a new report of the International Narcotics Control Board (INCB), a UN
agency, raps Canada's knuckles over its lax drug enforcement laws. It seems
that Ottawa's drug policy is full of sound and fury, signifying little.
Although Parliament ratified the 1971 Convention on Psychotropic
Substances, which requires notifying the INCB of all international trade of
hallucinogens and tranquilizers a full 13 years ago, Herbert Schaepe,
secretary of the board notes "we don't know what is going into the country,
nor coming out."

The result is that these pharmaceuticals are manufactured here and then
shipped to what may be fake companies run by traffickers. Again, during the
UN General Assembly's 20th special session in 1998 on curbing illicit drug
demand, Canada made loud noises about being in the forefront of the
international anti-drug effort. In the words of the report, however, Canada
"has not yet implemented some of the basic provisions" of the action plans
it lauded at the time.

Just as Canada is becoming notorious as a soft touch for international
terrorist fundraising, drug traffickers too find this country a safe base
of operations. Web sites selling high-potency cannabis seeds and equipment
are located on Canadian servers, and little is done to clamp down on the
trade in precursors (the chemicals used in producing heroin and cocaine).

In Ottawa, there seems to be a collective reluctance to take firm action to
enforce the law. This has been noticed abroad. As an exasperated Mr.
Schaepe adds: "We have spent more than a decade meeting with the Canadian
health authorities [and] foreign affairs people ... to discuss these
matters. We have written dozens of confidential letters ... and tried to
work with Canada through silent diplomacy". Nothing happened, so the INCB
has gone public.

Will a shamed Canada now follow up its strong words with strong deeds?