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)
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MAP posted-by: Larry Stevens