LET'S TAKE THE HIGH ROAD

If U.S. Can Ban Snowboarder, Canada Could Exclude A Few U.S. Presidents

I'm not big on revenge, but this could be a hoot.

U.S. customs officials have barred Canadian Olympic snowboarding gold
medalist Ross Rebagliati from visiting Salt Lake City to watch the Winter
Olympics, which started there on Friday.

The U.S. stopped Rebagliati from crossing the border for the same reason he
briefly lost his medal at the 1998 Olympics in Nagano, Japan -- marijuana.

Most Canadians -- heck, most people -- remember the cloud of controversy
that blew up around Rebagliati after he won gold in the giant slalom.

His medal was stripped from him when trace amounts of marijuana were found
in his urine. He claimed the marijuana wound up in his system not from
smoking but by being in a room filled with second-hand marijuana smoke in
Whistler.

Whether or not that can be believed is really immaterial.

The facts that got him his medal back were that pot is definitely not a
performance-enhancing drug (unless you're measuring the amount of junk food
someone can consume in a given period of time) and it is not on the
International Olympic Committee's list of banned substances.

The gold medal and pot controversy did not ultimately turn into a pot of
gold for Rebagliati. He did appear on late-night talk shows shortly after
the Olympics and has started his own snowboard line (appropriately called
Second-Hand Smoke) but his fame has not materialized into lucrative
endorsements, which might otherwise have come along had the ridiculous pot
controversy not surfaced.

It's important to note that Rebagliati, who could not be reached for
comment, does not have a criminal record for marijuana use or any other
illegal activities.

What's astonishing here is that the outdated and often corrupt IOC could
come up with a fair decision but that the U.S. government can be so far off
base.

So what about Canada? What about Americans who have admitted to drug use.

"We don't have a policy of reciprocity," said Rene Mercier, with
Citizenship and Immigration in Ottawa.

But just think of the possibilities if we did!

Former U.S president Bill Clinton admitted to having tried marijuana,
though he says he never inhaled. Kind of like he "didn't have sexual
relations with that woman" Monica Lewinsky.

Then there's former vice-president Al Gore who admitted to having smoked
marijuana up until the age of 25.

Now it's important to note that neither Clinton or Gore have criminal
records either, but if admitting to doing something is good enough for the
Yanks then it should be good enough for us.

But we need not delve so far back. All we need do is peer into the Oval
Office and there sits George W. Bush.

Back in November 2000 former major league pitcher Bill (Spaceman) Lee said
he smoked dope with the current pres.

"Back in 1973, we rolled a couple of doobies (marijuana cigarettes) and
smoked them together. And I can tell you -- he definitely inhaled," said
Lee, the rebel left-hander with the Expos and Boston Red Sox.

Like Rebagliati, perhaps a little red flag should be tagged next to George
W.'s name and the next time he tries to come to Canada he gets the boot.

That would change this unfair U.S. policy against Canadians in a hurry.
Either that or start a war.

Of course, that's not realistic for a number of reasons.

U.S. presidents don't go through customs, for one, but the real reason, of
course, is our federal government is a gutless wonder when it comes to
protecting Canadian interests against the Americans, be it softwood lumber,
fish stocks, our dollar or the freedoms of individual Canadians. Carl
Rusnok, the director of congressional and public affairs for the U.S.
Immigration and Naturalization Service, Central Region, chuckled when I
asked him to think about high profile Americans who would be denied access
to Canada if the same measure applied to Rebagliati were applied to them.

"I get your point," he said.

After a short investigation into the matter, Rusnok said "Mr. Rebagliati
was appropriately excluded from the country under a very strict
interpretation of INS law."

The law states that a "drug abuser or an addict is inadmissible."

So, I said, if Canada decided to write a similar law and it was interpreted
strictly, then Clinton, Gore and Bush would be red-flagged and barred from
entering the true north strong and free.

"I think if you're going to go into the presidents, that's an extreme
example," said Rusnok.

I don't think so at all.

It's exactly parallel with the burden falling on presidential hopefuls.

Surely people aspiring from young ages to grow up to be presidents should
be held up to higher scrutiny than a snowboarder.

By this time, Rusnok's friendly chuckle had been reduced to a snarl.

"I am not going to banter with you on the subject of drugs or marijuana or
presidents coming to Canada, OK?"

OK.

Hypocrisy is indeed difficult to defend.

Ultimately, tit-for-tat foreign policy is petty and beneath us. But it sure
can be fun to think about.

Let George W. put that in his pipe and smoke it.