U.S. WORRIES AS CANADA PONDERS EASING POT LAWS

TORONTO (AP) -- American officials caution they may be forced to
drastically slow trade across the northern U.S. border if the Canadian
government relaxes its marijuana laws.

The changes being considered by Prime Minister Jean Chretien's government
would make the penalty for getting caught with a joint similar to a traffic
ticket.

By contrast, the zero tolerance policy of the United States makes
possession of even small amounts illegal.

U.S. drug policy experts say decriminalizing marijuana in Canada will
increase drug use in America and trafficking by organized crime elements on
both sides of the border. Washington would respond with tighter border
checks that could hinder trade crucial to the Canadian economy.

"We intend to protect our citizens," said John P. Walters, director of the
Office of National Drug Control Policy.

The issue joins a growing list of differences between the North American
neighbors that share the world's largest trade partnership, worth more than
$1 billion a day.

Despite their military ties and common democratic values, Canada has
traditionally adopted more liberal social policies, in part to distinguish
itself from its powerful neighbor. Examples included diplomatic ties with
Cuba, a ban on capital punishment and more lenient immigration policies.

Canada already has a legal industry for hemp, cannabis cultivated with very
low amounts of the chemical that produces the high sought by marijuana
smokers. The U.S. government prohibits hemp production.

Last year, Canada implemented a medical marijuana program that allows some
patients to possess and grow pot. The Canadian Supreme Court will hear a
constitutional challenge to marijuana laws this fall, and a senate
committee has called for the complete legalization of pot -- a much more
radical step than decriminalization.

Despite such signals, lawyer and medical marijuana advocate Alan Young said
Canadians should wait before lighting that celebratory joint.

"It's actually going to be a longer battle than you think," he told a
September 30 demonstration in Toronto by dozens of people seeking legal
access to marijuana. "There's a lot of backward steps being taken."

Young cautioned the crowd that police had not let up against marijuana
users. He cited police crackdowns in pot-rich British Columbia and other
provinces, including a recent raid that shut down a Toronto club where
doctor-certified patients could get marijuana.

He also said Canada has backed off from a plan to provide government-grown
pot, though it allows approved patients to grow their own or designate
someone to do so. He blamed the decision on American pressure.

Eight U.S. states have taken some kind of step toward permitting the
medicinal use of marijuana: California, Washington, Oregon, Alaska, Hawaii,
Maine, Nevada and Colorado. The U.S. Supreme Court, however, has ruled
there is no exception in federal law for people to use marijuana, so even
those with tolerant state laws could face arrest if they do.

Canada already is a major source of marijuana used in the United States,
with hundreds of millions of dollars worth of dope with exotic names like
B.C. Bud and Quebec Gold smuggled in everything from sod trucks to hockey
equipment bags.

Decriminalization north of the border will create new headaches for the
United States, said Rep. Mark Souder, R-Ind, chairman of the Government
Reform Subcommittee on Criminal Justice, Drug Policy and Human Resources.
"We're still finding it hard to believe this could actually happen," he
said in a telephone interview, but added that if it does, tougher border
security would follow. "Probably it would be some sort of change in, at the
very least, spot-checking, more aggressive checking, possibly background
checking" of trucks and other vehicles crossing the border, he said.