CANADA MINOR MARIJUANA SUPPLIER

Re: Grow-op arrests cropping up less, April 5.

Your article quotes Det. Rob Muscat of the Peel Region police
morality bureau as saying, "We're the No. 1 source of marijuana into
the U.S." This is utter nonsense.

The available evidence, including reports from the Auditor-General of
Canada, the RCMP, the U.S. and the United Nations, have all found
just the opposite -- that Canada is, in fact, only a minor supplier
of cannabis to the U.S. The most recent report produced by Canadian
and American government agencies concluded that Canadian-produced
marijuana accounts for only about 2 per cent of overall U.S.
marijuana seizures at its borders. As a November 2002 RCMP report
noted , "The United States is basically its own main source of marijuana."

Eugene Oscapella

Lecturer in Drug Policy, Department of Criminology, University of Ottawa

Co-founder, Canadian Foundation for Drug Policy