Pubdate: Thu, 15 May 2003 Source: Watertown Daily Times (NY) Copyright: 2003 Watertown Daily Times Contact: http://www.wdt.net Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/792 Author: Brian Dickerson CANADA'S POT ISSUE IGNITES FEAR IN U.S. If international relations were a movie, Canada would be one of those demure heroines who remains in the background for most of the film but surprises the audience at a pivotal moment by standing up to -- or ignoring - - -- the leading man. It's as if we have to be reminded now and then that our closest neighbor is a nation unto itself. Our economic fates may be joined at the hip, and Michiganders may continue to find Ontario less exotic or threatening than Florida, Texas or (God knows) California. But that sovereign state thing never really goes away. And now -- just when you thought it was safe to go back to Toronto -- our licentious friends across the Detroit River are flexing their independence again. Sunday's Toronto Globe and Mail reported that the Canadian parliament may take up legislation decriminalizing possession of marijuana in amounts below 15 grams -- the quantity found in about 20 cigarettes -- as soon as Thursday. If it's adopted, a person caught with a few joints would escape with a ticket and a small fine. Drivers, stop your engines! The Bush administration, which admirably resisted international hysteria over Ontario's SARS outbreak, has displayed markedly less composure in the face of decriminalized pot. John Walters, the White House drug czar, has stumped Canada from the Atlantic provinces to Vancouver, warning about the proposal's impact on Canadian youth and, more ominously, cross-border trade. The U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration says relaxation of Canada's cannabis law would force customs officials here to increase scrutiny of vehicles entering Detroit, increasing costly delays at the busiest truck crossing in North America. So let me get this straight: Right now, with the nation's foreign and domestic policymakers grimly focused on preventing the next 9/11 and security officials fretting about the ease with which terrorists might smuggle biological or chemical weapons into this country, we're at one level of border security. But the prospect of tourists slipping across the border with a few joints in their toilet kits means we may have to kick it up a notch? Am I missing something? When was the last time a group of stoners burned down anything bigger than their own campsite? Drug enforcement officials worry that relaxing penalties for marijuana use in Canada will embolden traffickers to set up more smuggling operations near the U.S. border. They also worry that teens in border states like Michigan and New York will sneak into the provinces to get high. To Canadians, of course, this is the quintessence of Yankee arrogance: Expecting trade threats and Canadian police to do the work of negligent American parents. (It's 10 o'clock: Do you know what country your child is in?) I suspect the DEA is right, to a point. Decriminalizing Canadian pot likely will lead to greater use in this country. But when push comes to shove, the commercial realists in the Bush administration won't let the bluenoses threaten a $62-billion trading relationship. The likelier long-term consequence is that the United States will eventually follow Canada and most of the European community in the direction of decriminalization. And you know where that leads. Just watch: In 10 years, we'll be using reefer tax revenues to pay for MEAP scholarships. (Detroit Free Press) - --- MAP posted-by: Larry Stevens