BORDER COPS BRACE FOR WORST

Decriminalizing Pot Will Bring New Trade, Blaine Cop Warns

Watcom County police expect a new wave of drug smuggling when Canada's
federal government decriminalizes pot next year.

Authorities stateside suspect the move--making personal pot possession a
misdemeanour--will lure Americans north to do their deals. Blaine's deputy
police chief said his members will likely have their work cut out for them.

"It would be reasonable to anticipate (more smuggling) is going to occur,"
Mike Haslip said Wednesday.

He urged Canadian law makers to think twice about liberalizing pot laws.

"Ask yourself what you want your children and grandchildren to be doing,"
he said.

"What sort of statement do you want to make?"

Liberal Justice Minister Martin Cauchon said Monday he plans to move
forward next year with plans to decriminalize marijuana.

A House of Commons committee also recommended people caught with 30 grams
or less--enough to fill a small sandwich bag--face fines rather than
criminal prosecution.

Canadian Alliance MP Val Meredith (South Surrey-White Rock-Langley)
supports the move, if safeguards are in place.

She wants police to have power to test drivers, as they do with alcohol
breath tests, and said only licensed vendors should be allowed to sell pot.

The rule change wouldn't make it legal to carry pot, but it would treat it
more like a speeding ticket.

Meredith said current laws are too heavy-handed for a habit she likens to
alcohol use.

"If you're sitting at home and smoking a joint, that's your decision," the
MP said.

"People (smoking) at home aren't having a negative affect on anybody but
themselves (and) it's less dangerous to society than somebody having five
or six drinks and getting in the car and driving.

Meredith--who says she's never smoked pot--said 62 per cent of respondents
to a survey in her riding supported decriminalization of personal pot.

That should come as little surprise stateside, where B.C. has the dubious
distinction as a dope haven.

"I look on it as the marijuana capital," Haslip, who enforces Washington's
zero-tolerance drug policy, said.

Between November 2001 and October 2002, authorities made 169 seizures and
confiscated more than 3,500 kilos of marijuana from U.S.-bound travellers
at Peace Arch and Pacific Highway border crossings.

"We impound hundreds of pounds of B.C. bud every year, there are armed
professional couriers running through backyards in the middle of the night
carrying duffel bags," Haslip said.

"We spend a lot of time in schools talking to and educating our kids on the
ramifications of falling victim to a sales pitch by drug runners." Dep.
Chief John Bates, of U.S. Border Patrol, expects to see more if pot laws
are relaxed in B.C.

"It could have an impact on apprehending more people with smaller amounts,"
he said.

Typically, border guards are busy nabbing more serious drug runners, not
casual smokers with a few joints.

"What we're more concerned with is the larger amounts of marijuana, but
we're still going to stop any amount of illegal narcotic coming into the
United States," Bates said.