THE BUZZ IS THAT WHISTLER IS ONE SMOKIN' TOWN

Somehow, despite losing the men's World Cup downhill and reports of
mind-altering second-hand smoke, Whistler, B.C., has remained the "in"
destination for Canadian Olympic-sport athletes looking to let off a little
steam.

A few weeks ago, a group of Canadian boxers were at the B.C. resort and,
according to sources close to the team (Mike Strange), quite a few livers
were damaged, although not in the conventional way associated with boxing
(body shots).

As for the effects of second-hand smoke, The Toronto Sun managed to reach a
number of boxers on R and R in Whistler and, from the slurred speech and
incoherent responses, determined that the guys had abstained from using any
illegal, mind-altering substances and that everything was normal.

Next week, Olympic rowing great Marnie McBean and a few other scullers plan
to head to Whistler for some snow-shoeing before heading to Vancouver
Island to resume training for the 2000 Sydney Olympics.

Whistler, judged the best alpine resort in North America by some snotty
travel magazine, has managed to maintain its reputation as the place to be
despite the unpleasantness of Nagano two years ago. Remember those hazy,
crazy days, when snowboard dude Ross Rebagliati blamed the marijuana found
in his urine to all the second-hand smoke he had sucked into his lungs
while attending parties in his native Whistler? The town, Rebagliati said,
has the most powerful marijuana in the world.

Well, unlike International Olympic Committee officials, who obviously took
the dude at his word, this newspaper decided to investigate whether
Rebagliati's statements rang true.

And so, at about 3:30 a.m. Whistler time, direct from some media stink hole
in Nagano, a Toronto Sun reporter called the mayor of Whistler, Hugh
O'Reilly, and asked the questions on the minds of all right-thinking
Canadians -- particularly those looking for a really good place to vacation.

To the best of our recollection, the interview went something like this:

"Hello? Is this the mayor?"

"Yes," came the sleepy reply.

"This is The Toronto Sun calling from Japan. Can I have your name sir?"

"Hugh O'Reilly."

"Ah. Mr. O, uh, mayor, I'm calling about Ross Rebagliati."

"Oh yes," the mayor replied. "Ross."

"Yes. Well, apparently, according to Ross, Whistler has the best, I mean
most potent, marijuana in the world. Do you have a comment about that?"

"Well," the groggy mayor said, collecting his thoughts, "I don't really
know about that. But we are proud of Ross and of our community."

"Oh yeah, Whistler's great. But what about the marijuana?"

"What about it?" the mayor asked.

"Well, is it really the strongest in the world?"

"Well, I can't really answer that question. Especially at ... what time is
it?"

"Oh. It's about 8 o'clock ... here in Japan."

"Yes, well, it's not 8 o'clock here."

"Oh yeah? Sorry. But is it true about the marijuana?"

"Well, I don't really know what you want me to say about that," the mayor
said. "Certainly we have a young population, relatively speaking, and I'm
sure there's a certain segment who smoke marijuana. But you, and your
readers, should know that this community offers much more than just
marijuana and partying. We have wonderful facilities and service groups,
libraries, excellent day-care centres ..."

"Oh yeah? That's great. Actually, I heard you had some good libraries and
day-care centres."

"And an orchestra."

"Oh yeah, an orchestra. That's impressive. I'll be sure to mention all that
good stuff in my story, the stuff about the mountains and libraries and
service, uh, stuff. Anyway, what about the weed?"

"About what?"

"The weed. The weed."

"What the hell about it?"

"Is it true you have the strongest weed in the world?"

Click.

Another mystery, still unsolved.