YANKS NOT COOL

Laxer Pot Laws Will Mean Tighter Border, U.S. Warns

OTTAWA -- 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.

President George W. 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 nothing more than a ticket and no criminal record.

"Smoking any amount of marijuana is unhealthy, but the consequences of
conviction for a small amount of marijuana for personal use are
disproportionate to the potential harm," said Liberal MP Paddy Torsney,
chairman of the committee.

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" 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.

'That's An Archaic View'

He 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.

"I care about the Canadian people," Walters said, noting his father was
Canadian.

He said the notion that marijuana isn't a serious drug or an addictive drug
isn't true.

"That's an archaic view ... left over from the Cheech-and-Chong years of
the '70s," he said.

Cauchon rebuffed the U.S. views, insisting the Liberal government is only
talking about decriminalizing "small quantities," not the full legalization
of pot, which he agreed would be a cause for concern for the Americans.

"I will analyze the report and I will analyze the future positions of the
federal government on what is good for the entire Canadian society," he said.

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