THE GRASS IS GREENER

When Canada accepted the medical use of marijuana for pain relief last
summer, it made no friend of the U.S. government. The Bush administration
views any relaxation of the war against drugs, even for medicinal purposes,
as anathema, and was already unhappy over the amount of marijuana being
smuggled into the U.S. from this country.

Canada went ahead anyway, believing it could restrict the availability of
legal marijuana to those in real pain. But even benign actions have
consequences, and one of them made the news this week: a threatened influx
of Americans who want the freedom to smoke marijuana without being hauled
off to jail. At least three Americans living in British Columbia have
claimed refugee status, arguing that denying them cannabis amounts to
political persecution under the Geneva Conventions.

It's hard to buy that claim. However worthy their argument that cannabis is
medicine, Americans are not being jailed for holding their opinions, but
for acting on them against U.S. law, a law that applies to everyone. It's a
slippery climb from there to the threshold of cruel and unusual punishment
under the Geneva rules.

But the episode emphasizes the trickiness of setting an independent course
in so controversial an area. Justice Minister Martin Cauchon was right to
suggest recently that Canada should decriminalize the simple possession of
marijuana, to remove the criminal record that attaches to so many Canadians
for a relatively minor offence. At the same time, such a move would upset
the Bush administration, which made its feelings clear earlier this year.
Told that judges and politicians in Washington State were thinking of
easing up on people convicted of marijuana possession, the policy director
of the Office of National Drug Control responded: "I regret to hear that. .
. . I will tell you that during this administration we are not going to
give up."

What are Canadians in for? At the very least, from the U.S. side, tougher
border controls to keep Canadian marijuana at bay. From our side, the
prospect of receiving, or fighting back, waves of Americans who see this
country as a medical sanctuary or, if decriminalization comes, a safer
place to smoke dope. Trying to do the right thing can be very complicated.