OUR POT IS POTENT!

U.S. Warns Canadians Making The 'Crack Of Marijuana'

DETROIT -- The United States is being inundated with potent marijuana from
Canada, and the problem would be exacerbated if Ottawa decriminalized the
drug, the U.S. drug czar said yesterday.

While marijuana possession would remain illegal under the proposed Canadian
legislation, those found with up to 15 grams would receive a citation
similar to a traffic ticket. Violators would be ticketed and ordered to pay
fines ranging from $100 to $400 Cdn.

John P. Walters, director of the U.S. Office of National Drug Control
Policy, said some Canadian drug traffickers have used selective breeding to
grow marijuana that has up to 30 per cent content of THC, the psychoactive
chemical found in marijuana.

In comparison, he said, much of the marijuana used in the 1970s had less
than one per cent THC content.

High-potency marijuana is more likely to cause addiction and health
problems, officials have said.

"The kind of marijuana coming from Canada is essentially the crack of
marijuana," Walters said in a news conference at a Detroit drug treatment
centre.

"It is dangerous. It is destructive."

Walters added that a multibillion-dollar industry has emerged in Canada to
produce and distribute drugs to the United States.

"The problem is the political leadership in Canada has been utterly unable
to come to grips with this," he said. "They're talking about legalization
while Rome burns."

Canada's Solicitor General Wayne Easter, the minister responsible for the
RCMP, has already played down such fears.

"We do have the sovereign right to make our own laws. And there is a
recognition that the current laws are not working," Easter said earlier
this year.

Justice Minister Martin Cauchon, who introduced the new legislation in May,
has said the only thing that will change is the way some offences will be
prosecuted.

"We are not legalizing marijuana and have no plans to do so," Cauchon said
at the time.

One of the Canadian government's main reasons for moving ahead with the
changes is that casual pot smokers will no longer face the threat of jail
and a small-time user won't automatically end up with a criminal record.

However, there would be no respite for growers or dealers. The maximum
sentence for grow operations would be 14 years in prison, up from the
current seven.

The penalty for trafficking would remain a maximum life sentence, although
in practice the longest terms usually handed out are about 20 years for
major dealers.