CANADIAN EFFORT TO WEAKEN POT LAW BRINGS US WARNINGS

OTTAWA - A move toward possibly decriminalizing marijuana brought warnings
from U.S. officials and lawmakers, who cautioned that Canada should not
succumb to "myths" and warned of new disruptions to border trade.

The Bush administration's drug czar, John Walters, said decriminalization
would be a mistake based on misinformation. "I hope the Canadian government
does not head down the risky path of decriminalization or legalization," he
said in a statement sent to the Toronto Globe and Mail.

While Walters said that he respects Canada's right to set its own policy,
the chairman of a congressional drug-policy committee said he believes
decriminalization would prompt U.S. lawmakers to tighten border controls,
disrupting Canada-U.S. trade.

Rep. Mark Souder, R-Ind., said decriminalization would make Canada a center
of supply and traffic of marijuana that would likely cause Congress and the
Bush administration to take tougher measures to police the border.

"Obviously, Canada can do whatever it wants with its laws," Souder,
chairman of the House subcommittee on criminal justice, drug policy and
human resources, said in an interview Tuesday. "But to the degree there's
less harmonization with our laws, it means that the border traffic is going
to slow down.

"If there's a higher risk of illegal drugs moving, because
decriminalization functions as de facto legalization . . . we're not going
to sit idly by and not check."

The prospect of riling the United States, which maintains a strict policy
at the federal level against marijuana, is one of the concerns that has
held the government back from an outright promise to decriminalize the drug.

But Prime Minister Jean Chretien's government, in a major policy speech
covering a wide range of topics, signaled this week that it is moving
toward liberalizing marijuana laws by including the "possibility" of
decriminalization in its blueprint of government priorities.

Decriminalization would end jail terms, heavy fines and criminal records
for simple possession of marijuana, replacing them with a minor sanction
similar to a traffic ticket. That would stop short of full legalization,
which would allow the open, commercial sale of pot.

Walters, President Bush's director of national drug control policy, argued
that moves toward liberalizing pot laws have been fuelled by misinformation
that suggests marijuana use is not a danger.

"We recognize Canada's sovereignty but caution the Canadian people not to
fall for the same myths about marijuana that far too many Americans have
fallen for," he said in the statement.

"We have learned through hard experience that marijuana is a dangerous drug
with serious public health and social consequences, and I hope the Canadian
government does not head down the risky path of decriminalization or
legalization."

The political momentum for relaxing pot laws is growing in Canada, however.