BUSH TROUBLED BY CANADIAN MARIJUANA EXPORTS TO US

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - U.S. President George W. Bush said on Friday he was
troubled that Canada had become a source of potent marijuana and a key
ingredient to the illegal drug methamphetamine for the United States.

"The president cited his concern that Canada is a primary source of
pseudoephedrine, which is exported to the United States and used in
clandestine drug laboratories to make methamphetamine, and that Canada is an
increasing source of high potency marijuana," the White House said. Bush
made the findings in an annual report in which he graded the cooperation of
countries on fighting illegal drugs. It concluded that Guatemala, Haiti and
Myanmar are not doing enough to crack down on drug production and
trafficking.

The report, summarized by the White House, also cited an "alarming increase"
in the quantity of the illegal drug ecstasy entering the United States,
significant amounts of which it said were made in the Netherlands.

Canada and the Netherlands were not cited as countries failing to cooperate.

"The president expressed his desire to continue to work closely in a
continuing partnership with the governments of the Netherlands and Canada to
address these issues," the White House said.

Guatemala, Haiti and Myanmar have "failed demonstrably" to meet their
international obligations to combat drugs and to take steps demanded under
U.S. law, the report said.

But Bush immediately suspended the penalties -- chiefly the loss of most
U.S. aid -- for Guatemala and Haiti on the grounds of U.S. national
interest.

Myanmar's government, harshly criticized by Washington for human rights
abuses and for mismanaging the east Asian nation's economy, remains subject
to the penalties.

Bush identified the major drug-transit or drug-producing countries as
Afghanistan, the Bahamas, Bolivia, Brazil, China, Colombia, the Dominican
Republic, Ecuador, Guatemala, Haiti, India, Jamaica, Laos, Mexico, Myanmar,
Nigeria, Pakistan, Panama, Paraguay, Peru, Thailand, Venezuela, and Vietnam.