U.S. SEIZURES OF CANADIAN POT RISES 259% SINCE 2001

OTTAWA - Seizures of Canadian-made marijuana by U.S. authorities have
increased 259 per cent since 2001 but still constitute only about two
per cent of all such seizures at U.S. borders, says a joint assessment.

The 28-page report prepared by Canadian and U.S. authorities said "the
two governments are very concerned about an upward trend in seizures."

The vast majority of marijuana seized at U.S. borders comes from
Mexico, the report said. Though Canada accounts for only two per cent
of pot seized, it is still the second-largest supplier, followed by
Colombia and Jamaica.

The report said the increase is partly the result of more effective
policing, including tighter border controls and better co-operation
between the two countries since the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks
on the U.S.

"We've been working more closely today than we ever have," said RCMP
Chief Superintendent Raf Souccar, director general of drugs and
organized crime.

"And we seem to be working smarter instead of harder," making the most
of limited resources by combining efforts, following intelligence
leads and targeting criminal organizations who wield the most power.

Most of the southbound marijuana seized is in bud form, known as
sinsemilla, which is mainly produced in British Columbia and generally
has higher potency levels than other forms of marijuana, the report
said.

RCMP estimate that annual marijuana production in Canada ranges
between 960 and 2,400 tonnes, most of it in British Columbia. Canadian
authorities seized a record 1.4 million plants in 2003, the document
says.

Annual U.S. production ranges between 3,100 and 7,100 tonnes, with 3.6
million plants seized in 2003.

The report says Canadian marijuana is primarily destined for major
U.S. cities: Chicago, Los Angeles, San Diego, Miami, New York,
Phoenix, Tucson and Seattle.

"Over the last five years, organized criminal groups based in Canada
have emerged as suppliers of marijuana to the United States,
exercising control over production, transportation and financing,"
said the report.

The study was jointly prepared by eight Canadian agencies, including
the RCMP, Foreign Affairs, Health Canada and the Canadian Border
Services Agency; and 10 American agencies, including the FBI, Homeland
Security and the U.S. Drug Enforcement Adminstration.

The report says Vietnamese and other Asian criminal organizations have
supplanted outlaw motorocycle gangs as the No. 1 smuggling threat at
the border.

"These groups are highly organized and transport large quantities of
marijuana across the border into the United States."

Many traffic several types of drugs and proceeds from the sale of
Canadian marijuana can be used to finance the purchase of cocaine and
other drugs for import into Canada.

The U.S. Drug Enforcement Agency reports that "traffickers
occasionally exchange cocaine at a rate of four to eight pounds of
Canadian-produced marijuana for one kilogram of cocaine."

Other items of interest from the report:

About a quarter of the cocaine imported into Canada comes through the
United States, usually by highway from Houston and Los Angeles through
Windsor, Sarnia and Sault-Ste-Marie, Ont.

Authorities estimate that only one to two tonnes of heroin is smuggled
into Canada annually, 77 per cent of it from Southeast Asia (China,
Cambodia and Thailand).

Increasing amounts of ephedrine, the key ingredient to
methamphetamines, have been imported to Canada, mainly from China and
India with the goal of getting it into the United States in raw or
processed form.

The number of methamphetamine labs dismantled by Canadian police was
24 in 2000, 13 in 2001, 25 in 2002 and 39 in 2003, while U.S. raids
numbered 7,035 in 2000, 8,572 in 2001, 9,203 in 2002 and 10,051 in
2003.

Europe - primarily the Netherlands and Belgium - accounts for the bulk
of methamphetamine ecstasy on the Canadian and U.S. markets.

Most steroids smuggled into the United States and Canada come from
Mexico.