U.S. OFFERS HELP WITH ANTI-DRUG CAMPAIGN

Made Concerns Clear, Top Bush Official Says Canada's Sovereignty Eroded,
Critic Charges

WASHINGTON--The Bush administration now feels Canada has taken a "more
sober" position on marijuana and instead of threatening to slow border
traffic, the president's drug czar is offering to help Ottawa warn of the
dangers of pot.

John Walters, however, wouldn't say Washington's concerns caused the
Chretien government to soften its marijuana legislation, tabled this week.

"We have tried to be helpful in private with Canadian officials and tried
to make clear in advance what our concerns were, so there wouldn't be a
sense that we hadn't been candid if these problems got worse," he said in
an interview yesterday.

"We have offered to work with Canadian officials with what we have learned,
painfully, about this topic," Walters said. "We don't want to see people
unnecessarily put at risk or put in danger."

Solicitor-General Wayne Easter has already received U.S. data on the
effects of tough anti-marijuana advertisements on American youth.

But an official with a national organization seeking to reform marijuana
laws in this country called Walters an "ill-informed buffoon" who is firing
shots at a sovereign country when he is losing his hard-line anti-marijuana
campaign right here at home.

The Liberal bill tabled Tuesday would make penalties for possession of up
to 15 grams of marijuana a minor offence punishable by fines similar to
those in Ohio. In that state, possession of up to 100 grams is punishable
by a ticket and a fine of up to $100, with no criminal record.

Allen St. Pierre, executive director of the National Organization for the
Reform of Marijuana Laws (NORML), said he found it sad that Ottawa let
Washington's concerns play into domestic decisions. He said he was aghast
that Justice Minister Martin Cauchon would fly to Washington to meet U.S.
Attorney-General John Ashcroft to brief him on the Canadian proposal before
it was presented to MPs.

"Can you imagine the anger, the sense of outrage in this country if we had
put a cabinet minister on a mission to have our laws reviewed by another
nation before we have outlined it at home?

"Sadly, that shows an erosion of Canadian sovereignty."

Twelve U.S. states, along with the District of Columbia, have
decriminalized or relaxed marijuana laws.

"This is really a lot of hullabaloo from the U.S. government over nothing,"
St. Pierre said.

"There are 100 million Americans, a third of the population, already living
under Canadian-style laws."