AUTHORITIES SAY WHATCOM COUNTY IS A PIPELINE FOR 'B.C. BUD'

In the aftermath of Sept. 11, the Department of Homeland Security has
nearly doubled the staff at the Port of Blaine. Marijuana smugglers,
however, still are finding ways to sneak "B.C. Bud" across the border into
Washington, said Mark Rech, resident agent in charge at the Drug
Enforcement Administration office in Blaine.

"(B.C. Bud) is being smuggled down from B.C. to every major city along
I-5," said Chris, a Bellingham resident and marijuana user who requested
anonymity for legal reasons. "The big smugglers bring pounds and pounds of
it to larger cities like Seattle and Tacoma, and then it gets distributed
to smaller cities like Bellingham."

The Royal Canadian Mounted Police estimated that as many as 3,000
hydroponic greenhouses are operating in the Vancouver area alone but
officials do not know how much B.C. Bud actually enters the United States.

"The Canadian government needs to open its eyes and look at the problem,"
Rech said. "Twenty percent of British Columbia's (gross domestic product)
is from B.C. Bud."

British Columbia's 2003 GDP was approximately $142.4 billion, which makes
B.C. Bud a $28.5 billion industry.

Seizures at the border are increasing because of more manpower at U.S.
Customs, but agents at DEA headquarters still do not understand how big a
problem B.C. Bud trafficking is, Rech said. From October 2002 to September
2003, authorities in Blaine seized more than 13,000 pounds of marijuana in
285 different seizures and more than 540 pounds of cocaine in 21 different
seizures, according to U.S. Customs statistics.

"We've seen huge seizures lately in the last couple years," Rech said. "It
gives you an idea of what people are trying to do to get through the border."

Port of Blaine authorities have seized nearly 3,000 pounds of marijuana in
the past six months, and during that same time, more than 1 million
passenger vehicles passed through the port, according to statistics
provided by Mike Milne, media relations officer for U.S. Customs.

"B.C. Bud is valued at around $3,000 per pound at the border," Milne said.
"But once it makes its way down to California, it can go for as much as
$6,000."

Chris said he could go to Tacoma and get a pound of marijuana for $1,800
but agreed that prices skyrocket in California. He also said prices on the
East Coast are nearly double what they are in Washington.

"You can get an ounce (in Washington) from anywhere between $180 to $250,"
Chris said. "But on the East Coast, you might end up spending $300 to $350."

According to the DEA, B.C. Bud's average THC content -- the chemical in
marijuana that gives users their high ' is between 15 and 20 percent, much
higher compared to the average 2 percent THC content found in most
marijuana during the '70s. B.C. Bud is the standard for how good marijuana
should be, but better marijuana exists, and a lot of it is grown in
Washington and California, Chris said.

Authorities said they do not know how often marijuana makes it across the
border, but they do know it is a lot more than the amounts they seize.

"I use the analogy of the carnival game 'whack-a-mole' to explain the
situation," Milne said. "You pop (the mole) on his head. He leaves, and
then shows up somewhere else, so you pop him again wherever he shows up,
but then he just keeps showing up somewhere else."

State-of-the-art gamma-ray imaging machines, information systems that share
intelligence about travelers' vehicles and criminal backgrounds and highly
trained customs staff contribute to the Port of Blaine's ability to catch
as many smugglers as possible, Rech said.

Milne said people use many modes of transportation and creative hiding
spots to traffic B.C. Bud. Smugglers bring it across the border by car,
sailboat, kayak and on foot. They also drop large quantities out of
aircraft for remote pickups in the wilderness on the U.S. side of the
border, Milne said.

"I've heard stories of people going on five-man expeditions into the North
Cascades to pick up bud," Chris said.

Chris said he also has heard of people who float various objects, such as
hollow logs filled with marijuana, down rivers while tracking their
location with a Global Positioning System unit. But the bigger loads are
smuggled into the United States on commercial fishing boats and large
semi-trucks, Chris said.

In the past five years, customs authorities have seen a growth in the loads
people smuggle, from small personal amounts to hockey bags full of 60 to 80
pounds of marijuana, Milne said. Along with the marijuana, smugglers move
large quantities of cash across the border. In the past six months, port
authorities have seized $1.3 million in drug money at the Port of Blaine,
according to Milne's statistics.

The DEA has limited manpower and cannot sufficiently control the smuggling,
Rech said. Only four agents from the DEA are responsible for drug
enforcement in Skagit, Island and Whatcom counties.

"You'll always hear about the war against drugs, but it's not really a
war," Rech said. "We're just trying to maintain. We're just a small pea in
the pod up here."

A large portion of the marijuana smuggled passes through Bellingham because
of the I-5 corridor, Bellingham Police Lt. Craige Ambrose said. In addition
to the growth of B.C. Bud trafficking, other drugs, such as
methamphetamines, are a problem in Whatcom County, Ambrose said.

"Ten years ago, people couldn't even pronounce the word methamphetamine,"
Ambrose said. "Now people call it meth. Who knows what drugs people are
going to be using 10 years from now. It could be something we've never even
heard of."