UH-OH. OUR AMBASSADOR'S IN JAIL.

Being a city and not (yet) a city-state, Vancouver doesn't officially send
ambassadors to foreign lands. Unofficially though, we have lots-former
Vancouverites who move to other places and thus represent our burg to the
wider world. Michael J. Fox comes to mind, but don't forget another
Vancouver gift to the movies: Tommy Chong. The Canadian half of the Cheech
& Chong comedy team may have grown up in Calgary, but his professional
career started here-and even included a stint with Motown recording artists
Bobby Taylor and the Vancouvers. Not to mention the fact that his trademark
stoner humour is a sales pitch for Vancouver's number one home-grown
industry. When he and Cheech Marin began starring in a series of
dope-addled films, Chong became a rare example of Vancouver going to
Hollywood instead of the other way around. Tommy Chong: Vancouver's
ambassador to California.

So I guess it's not a good sign when they send your ambassador to the
penitentiary. Last October, Chong began a nine-month sentence in
California's Corcoran federal institution.

Admittedly Cheech & Chong movies such as Up in Smoke and The Corsican
Brothers will never be considered cinematic classics. But if they put you
in jail for that, Sylvester Stallone would already be on Death Row. No,
Chong's crime was something much deadlier in the eyes of American
authorities-the 66-year-old comedian was convicted of selling glass pipes
on the Internet. All across California, children will be able to sleep
safely tonight.

Obviously there's no love lost between Hollywood North and Governor
Arnold's California. But the truth is, Tommy Chong's fate shines a real
light on at least one key aspect of our relationship to the United
States-our respective attitudes to illegal drugs.

Philosophically the international border is getting wider and wider.
President Bush's drug czar John Walters recently attacked Canada for "going
the wrong way" on drug policy. To say the least, our approaches differ.
While Vancouver police turn a blind eye to simple pot possession, and IV
drug users make use of a safe injection site near Main and Hastings, the
Americans demonstrate their idea of proper drug policy: sentencing senior
citizens to hard time for selling bongs. Apparently, in the Bush era you
don't even have to carry pot to get busted. All you need are weapons of
grass consumption.