LOOSER DRUG LAW, TIGHTER BORDERS

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 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,
chair of the committee.

TRAFFIC TO U.S.

U.S. 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.

'CHEECH AND CHONG' VIEW

"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.

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

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 what marijuana 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."