U.S. DRUG CZAR CLAIMS CANADA LAX IN PROSECUTING DRUG CRIME

SEATTLE -- While police are aggressive about arresting people for drug crimes
north of the border, Canada's court system treats marijuana and methamphetamine
producers too leniently, the U.S. drug czar said Thursday.

"What Canadian officials tell us is that they have laws on the books that could
be used here, but that the Canadian system has developed the practice of not
sentencing people to anything approaching serious time unless they commit a
violent crime," John Walters, director of the Office of National Drug Control
Policy told The Associated Press. "So you can set up grows, you can ship drugs,
you can be caught, and very little happens to you."

Paul Kennedy, Canada's senior assistant deputy solicitor general, countered
that stiff sentences aren't the only way to crack down on illegal drug use.

"One factor is the severity of sentence, but it is not determinative by itself,
and not every case calls for a long sentence," Kennedy said, from Ottawa.

Convicted drug traffickers can be sentenced to life in prison, Kennedy noted,
adding that the Canadian government recently proposed doubling the maximum
sentence for cultivating 50 or more pot plants to 14 years.

Kennedy acknowledged the U.S. gripes about pot smuggling from British Columbia
and other provinces, but he pointed out there's a lot more marijuana coming
into the United States from Mexico. U.S. authorities seized 15,400 kilograms of
pot along the northern border from October 2002 through July of this year,
compared to more than 544,300 kilograms along the southwestern border,
according to the latest U.S. Customs figures available.

Earlier this year, Prime Minister Jean Chretien's government proposed a law
that would treat possession of small amounts of marijuana much like traffic
violations. U.S. officials have called the proposal a horrible idea, saying it
would lead to more drug smuggling along the 6,400-kilometre border.

Walters criticized Initiative 75, a measure on next Tuesday's ballot in Seattle
that would make marijuana possession the city's lowest law-enforcement
priority. He acknowledged that marijuana doesn't cause health problems as
severe as those caused by cocaine, heroin or methamphetamine, but said that
shouldn't make it less of a concern.