B.C.'S POT REPUTATION DRAWING U.S. TOURISTS

Discovery Of A Pot-Smuggling Tunnel Between B.C. And The U.S. Adds To The Lore

VANCOUVER -- It's known as the marijuana capital of Canada, a haven
for potheads, where grow ops spring up at such a rate police can't
keep up with the multi-billion-dollar industry that rivals tourism
and forestry with its economic clout.

It's British Columbia, where the words "This bud's for you" have
nothing to do with beer.

Now, B.C.'s international reputation as a mecca for marijuana has
been further solidified after Canadian and American law enforcement
officials discovered a secret tunnel beneath the Canada-U.S. border
to smuggle -- what else? -- pot.

Three B.C. men have been charged in Washington state with conspiracy
to distribute and import marijuana after the tunnel -- longer than a
football field and complete with ventilation and electricity -- was
used to sneak across their first load of cannabis.

American officials have busted 33 cross-border tunnels between Mexico
and Arizona but the one discovered last week was the first between
Canada and the U.S., said Jeff Eig, spokesperson for the Drug
Enforcement Administration, Seattle field division.

Construction of the north-south tunnel is a likely sign increased
enforcement by Border Patrol and the Department of Homeland Security
since 9-11 is so effective that B.C. smugglers had to go underground,
Eig said in an interview.

"It's something, certainly, that we're going to be looking at more
aggressively," he said.

Marijuana activist Marc Emery, dubbed the Prince of Pot by American
media, said the sophisticated tunnel will only inflate Vancouver's
reputation for weed.

"It will remind Americans we're producing pot and we're trying to get
it to them in any way possible," he said.

"I was crushed to discover (the tunnel) had been discovered so early
in its history," quipped former Londoner Emery, who has twice made a
run for mayor of Vancouver and is founder of the B.C. Marijuana party.

The pot politician, who has made millions with his marijuana seed
business, also founded Cannabis Culture magazine and Internet-based Pot-TV.

At Emery's B.C. Marijuana party headquarters and bookstore, the smell
of pot clings to the air as a man smokes weed from a bong -- a water pipe.

Tourists, many from the U.S., hang around the store, taking in the
sights and scents of the place they discovered on the Internet or from friends.

A couple named Linda and Frank, from Austin, Tex., seem enraptured by
the pot paraphernalia that includes marijuana seeds -- with names
like Atomic Haze, God Bud and Lethal Purple -- pipes and magazines
such as High Times.

Smoking pot in a store isn't something you'd see back in Republican
"Bush country," says Linda. "Y'all have conservative people here too
who think it's a detriment to British Columbia but look at all the
tourism you're having," she gushes.