CANADIAN POT SCARES US OFFICIALS

If international relations were a movie, Canada would be one of those
demure heroines who remains in the background for most of the film but
surprises the audience at a pivotal moment by standing up to--or
ignoring--the leading man.

It's as if we have to be reminded that our closest neighbor is a nation
unto itself.

But that sovereign state thing never really goes away. And now--just when
you thought it was safe to go back to Toronto--our licentious friends to
the north are flexing their independence again.

Sunday's Toronto Globe and Mail reported that the Canadian parliament may
take up legislation decriminalizing possession of marijuana in amounts
below 15 grams as soon as Thursday. If it's adopted, a person caught with a
few joints would escape with a ticket and a small fine.

Drivers, stop your engines!

John Walters, the White House drug czar, has stumped Canada from the
Atlantic provinces to Vancouver, warning about the proposal's impact on
Canadian youth and, more ominously, cross-border trade.

The U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration says relaxation of Canada's
cannabis law would force customs officials here to increase scrutiny of
vehicles entering Detroit, increasing costly delays at the busiest truck
crossing in North America.

So let me get this straight: Right now, with the nation's foreign and
domestic policymakers grimly focused on preventing the next 9/11, we're at
one level of border security. But the prospect of tourists slipping across
the border with a few joints means we may have to kick it up a notch?

Am I missing something? When was the last time stoners burned down anything
bigger than their campsite?

Drug enforcement officials worry that relaxing penalties for marijuana use
in Canada will embolden traffickers to set up more smuggling operations
near the U.S. border.

To Canadians, of course, this is the quintessence of Yankee arrogance:
Expecting trade threats and Canadian police to do the work of negligent
American parents.

I suspect the DEA is right, to a point. Decriminalizing Canadian pot likely
will lead to greater use in this country. But when push comes to shove, the
Bush administration won't let the bluenoses threaten a $62-billion trading
relationship.

The likelier long-term consequence is that the United States will
eventually follow Canada in the direction of decriminalization. And you
know where that leads.