POT POLICY SCANDALIZES DRUG CZAR

The U.S. drug czar, John Walters, got on his soapbox last week at a
Montreal conference and railed on about the dangers of marijuana.

He's an embarrassment south of the border to everyone who supports a
rational approach to drug abuse. Now Canadians know he's a wingnut as well.

It must drive Washington crazy that Canada liberalized its drug laws to
allow patients with certain conditions to smoke pot.

It must scandalize Uncle Sam that Ottawa is a - gasp - drug dealer growing
official marijuana in a heavily fortified underground bunker in Manitoba.

American officials are probably breaking out in hives at the thought that
Canada might decriminalize - or even legalize - pot.

Walters attempted to set the record straight at the international meeting
of the College on Problems of Drug Dependence.

It's time to crank up the war against marijuana, he told delegates. Pot is
dangerous, he warned. Of the 4.3 million Americans suffering drug
addiction, 65% are dependent on marijuana, he declared.

Health experts, however, will tell you that pot isn't particularly
addictive. And there's a big difference between true clinical dependence
and sporadic drug-related problems.

Pot dangerous? I anxiously await the statistics that show smoking marijuana
kills people. Why, let's see, the two drugs that kill the most people are
the legal ones - tobacco and alcohol.

Marijuana a gateway to hard drugs? That myth was debunked by medical
experts long ago. But since when do government ideologues listen to scientists?

Walters must be just apoplectic over Canada's open-minded approach to
medical marijuana. "We have the most sophisticated and capable medical
system in the history of humankind," he told the conference crowd.

"Smoked marijuana is not likely to be a modern medicine."

For some seriously ill people, however, pot prolongs life and alleviates pain.

In 1999, the Institute of Medicine of the respected U.S. National Academy
of Sciences reported that for patients who don't respond to other
medications, marijuana is effective in treating pain, nausea and the
wasting syndrome caused by AIDS.

Oh, those pesky scientists. How dare they hamper U.S. government efforts to
convince an increasingly skeptical world that pot really is the demon weed!

Walters was gracious enough to say that Canada can formulate its own drug
control strategy. "We respect that," he said.

I may be cynical but I wouldn't put it past Uncle Sam to lean on Ottawa in
a bid to scuttle any attempts at liberalization of our drug laws. Others
share my concern, including Bruce Mirken, of the Marijuana Policy Project,
a U.S. group that wants pot decriminalized and made available for the sick.
"I think (the U.S.) is scared to death that not just Canada but other
countries are going to make some serious changes in their policies ... that
will leave the U.S. even more nakedly alone and isolated in our
demonization of marijuana," says Mirken.

The Criminal Justice Policy Foundation, which is pressing for reform of
U.S. drug laws, also suspects that Washington is trying to influence
Canada's drug policies.

"There are certainly people in the U.S. government who would be happy to
try to bully Canada," says foundation president Eric Sterling. "The issue
of drugs is so beguiling to American politicians ... that their good
judgment of how to deal with their neighbour has been lost."

The war on drugs has been lost on all fronts, he says. Drug prices are
down, purity is up and the battle against pot is squandering resources that
could be used to help millions of people addicted to heroin and cocaine, he
says.

Unfortunately, he adds, the more "loopy things" Walters says, the less
likelihood kids will heed credible anti-drug education.