BORDER COULD GO TO POT, U.S. WARNS

Joint Report Filed

Looser marijuana laws in Canada will lead to even tighter security at the
U.S. border, American officials warned yesterday.

U.S. drug cops could soon be shifting their attention from the Mexican
border north once the Liberal government decriminalizes pot possession,
according to a spokesman for the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration.

U.S. President George Bush's anti-drug czar John Walters also took aim at
yesterday's Commons committee recommendation that possession of 30 grams of
pot should result in only a ticket and no criminal record.

DEA spokesman Will Glaspy said American experts still see pot as "an
illegal, harmful and dangerous substance," and he hopes Canadian
authorities get the information they need to make a "good" decision.

"What it would mean for the United States obviously would require us to put
more emphasis and place more security along our northern border," Glaspy said.

Justice Minister Martin Cauchon has already said he's ready to roll on the
decriminalization of marijuana for personal use by early next year.

Walters used a visit to Buffalo to sound off on the evils of marijuana, the
increasing $5-billion US cross-border flow of Canadian-grown high-potency
marijuana known as "B.C. Bud" cultivated by gangs and the dangers of easy
marijuana laws.

"It makes security at the border tougher because this is a dangerous threat
to our young people, given what we see, and it makes the problem of
controlling the border more difficult," Walters said after being asked
about the committee recommendation.

Walters said the U.S. recognizes Canada is "a sovereign country" but the
American example shows marijuana use is addictive and expensive to society
and it shouldn't be encouraged.

'Archaic View'

He said the ideas that marijuana isn't a serious drug of abuse and that you
can't become addicted aren't true. "That's an archaic view of marijuana
left over from the Cheech and Chong years of the '70s," he said.

Cauchon said the Liberal government is only talking about decriminalizing
"small quantities," not the full legalization of pot.

Other recommendations by the Commons committee include more money for the
government's drug abuse prevention program for young people, a "renewed"
national anti-drug strategy headed by a commissioner and no amnesty for the
600,000 Canadians who have been convicted of pot possession.