Pubdate: Early January
Source: Canadian Broadcasting Corporation
Program: The Fifth Estate
Video: http://www.pot-tv.net/archive/shows/pottvshowse-512.html
Note: Transcribed by Reverend Damuzi

Good evening and happy new year, and welcome to The Fifth Estate. As 
we are forever being reminded, Canada is a country of regions, all 
with their unique interests. In parts of British Columbia, for 
example, there is big interest and a big business in a product that's 
banned by law. It's marijuana, a best selling variety known 
everywhere as BC Bud.

West coast growers have been making a lot of money on BC bud and in 
general the authorities seemed inclined to set it slide. But then it 
became a hot commodity for export south of the border and that's 
where our story starts. Because that's when Uncle Sam got mad about 
BC bud and flexed some American muscle.

The story is told by our colleague from CBC British Columbia, Gloria Macarenko.

Macarenko: A dead end road in the middle of nowhere. No fence or 
barrier, just footpaths that lead to a ditch. You'd never know that 
this is the border between British Columbia and Washington State. US 
border patrolman Tom Ferrindino used to work the US/Mexico border, 
now he works the border of Canada.

Ferrindino: "I'm looking for cars, people, any suspicious activity."

Macarenko: Ferrindino has a mission: to defend the US border. To him 
and to many Americans, this is war.

Ferrindino: "This is a war. The United States is being infiltrated by 
illegal aliens, by drug smugglers, by terrorists, criminal elements 
of other countries that are trying to gain footholds in the United 
States. And this is one way for them to do it, the northern border."

Macarenko: It's marijuana smugglers from BC that are gaining 
footholds here, by just walking across these ditches with bags full 
of the stuff. It's upsetting the Americans so much that they have 
made this their new front in their war on drugs. The enemies are 
Canadians like Peter Roberts, a small time marijuana courier, one of 
the very few who has been caught.

Peter Roberts: "It was gun out 'Put your hands where I can see 'em, 
shut it off, drop your keys, put your hands were I can see em.' and I 
was sitting there and I could feel that bullet going straight through 
my head."

Macarenko: Roberts is a retired logger who'd never been arrested in 
his life. He was trying to make some quick cash by hauling marijuana 
across the border. The Americans would also like to get their hands 
on Peter's son, Justin, who's still back in their hometown of 
Malaquat, BC. Justin is suspected of helping his dad make his runs. 
He says it's a booming business.

Justin Roberts: "Well there's lots of money to be made in this you 
know. From the next door neighbour who might sell it, or to the guy 
who grows it. What happened to dad was a bit of an eye-opener to 
everybody up here. They know what not to do now."

Macarenko: In this small logging town, people are used to finding new 
ways to make money. And at the Malaquat cafe, many think that selling 
pot is no big deal.

Elderly woman: "I think most of us feel the same. Live and let live. 
I mean you do what you have to do."

Middle aged man: "There's lot of pot out here."

Macarenko: What do you mean?

Middle aged man: "It grows. There's lots of unemployment."

Macarenko: Selling product to the US is how people around here have 
always gotten by. For a long time the money came from logs, taken out 
of the forest. Now the mills are closed and marijuana has taken over 
as the cash crop. The plants here actually produce some of the best 
marijuana, known around the world as BC Bud.

Macarenko: Marijuana growing is a major underground industry. The 
police figure that BC growers make about $3 billion a year. They make 
most of that selling to Americans. While the US fights its major war 
against all drugs, many people in BC have a much more relaxed 
attitude about marijuana. And up until very recently, that included 
police. A couple of years ago in the Cannabis Cafe in Vancouver, 
users smoked openly, just like they do in Amsterdam. The cafe sold 
seeds to some of the estimated 8,000 growers around Vancouver, who 
were seldom charged. 90 percent of those who were charged, didn't go 
to jail. Most just got a fine. One BC judge justified the leniency by 
saying  "moderate use of marijuana done by a healthy adult is not 
harmful to health."

Border cop: "Yeah marijuana was seized in this concealed compartment 
in this pickup truck."

Macarenko: The American drug warriors at the border were beginning to 
get really annoyed at BC's attitude. US customs agents were seizing 
stuff that would have sold in California for $6,000 a pound.

Macarenko: In May of 1998, the US summoned Canadians to this Seattle 
Hotel. The RCMP and Vancouver police came, along with BC's Attorney 
General. Washington's attorney general, Christine Gregoire, laid down 
the law.

Gregoire: "What came out of our summit was a very clear encouragement 
to British Columbia, to enhance its penalties, to enhance its 
prosecutions, to enhance the time in which it makes those 
prosecutions, so that they're much more effective. BC's attorney 
general at the time, Ujjal Dosanjh, came on side.

Dosanjh: "There were discussion with the RCMP and other police 
officers present from the other side of the border and there was a 
general agreement to cooperate with each other."

Macarenko: Then, the same month, the Americans hosted a bigger 
meeting on border crime, in Washington. US attorney general, Janet 
Reno, met with Canada's then Solicitor General, Andy Scott, who gave 
Reno a mountie hat. Scott also gave Reno what she wanted: a special 
team of RCMP officers sent to the border to protect the US from 
Canadian marijuana couriers.

Macarenko: Police from the two countries are now getting together 
like never before. These days Special Agent Mike Fuego, from the US 
rug Enforcement Agency comes up to Vancouver once a week to meet with 
the RCMP.

Macarenko: What do you talk about?

Fuego: "We talk about the current ongoing cases in both countries 
that affect their efforts. If there is a case that is... most of it 
is going to be in the States, I will assign an agent to go up there 
and physically meet with and sort of help them."

Macarenko: When the DEA talks about helping other countries, it 
sometimes leads to scenes like this (cops shown with guns entering a 
building). DEA agents have moved into other countries around the 
world to fight their drug war. They've arrested people in places like 
Mexico and Colombia, and hauled them into US court. US law also 
allows them to seize people's assets and keep the stuff for 
government use.

Fuego (laughing): "I mean my government car was beautiful, wasn't it?"

Macarenko: Yeah, really smooth.

Fuego: "A 97 Mercedes that we seized off of a ah [clears throat] US 
person that came down with 80 pounds of BC bud."

Macarenko: That kind of thing worries people like Michael Bolton. 
He's one of Canada's top experts in international law and drug cases. 
He thinks that the DEA will move right into Canada if they're allowed 
to.

Bolton: "We don't want them to treat us like they treat Mexico. As if 
there were no border. No foreign state or its law enforcement agency 
has any right to investigate in Canada. Foreign states cannot carry 
on law enforcement activity in Canada. that would be an infringement 
of Canadian sovereignty and that makes the border meaningless.

Macarenko: People in Malaquat, BC sure feel like the Americans are 
infringing on their town.

Middle aged woman: "I think they should look after their own. We 
should look after our own."

Middle aged man: "It's so blown out of proportion. I mean you got a 
couple kids..."

Macarenko: The local kids first caught the attention of American 
agents at the border when one of them came through carrying a hockey 
bag of marijuana. And got caught. The US called on the RCMP and asked 
them to find others who got away. The courier they caught said a 
logger from Malaquat was the supplier, 28 year old Colin Martin. The 
RCMP got a special budget for an investigation, and brought their new 
American friends in on the case.

Macarenko: Then the RCMP go to great lengths for the US cause. A US 
agent helps the RCMP put a tracking device in one of the Martin 
family trucks. Police from both countries follow the truck through 
back roads on either side of the border, for weeks on end. Twice the 
RCMP arrest Colin Martin with piles of US money but then let him go. 
The RCMP even sit back and watch as the group goes into an airport 
loaded down with hockey bags bound for the US. The RCMP don't plan to 
charge anyone yet, because they're trying to help the Americans build 
a conspiracy case.

Macarenko: They get permission to tap Colin Martin's phone and he 
knows they're onto him. An investigator hears Martin saying, "in BC 
the police are very lax and don't have the money to do these 
investigations. The DEA are doing the investigation."

Macarenko: The RCMP seem to agree. An investigator writes, "The 
comments of Colin Martin should be noted. The sad reality is that 
it's not far from the truth."

Macarenko: By the summer of 1999, the RCMP have been watching for a 
year and they still haven't charged anyone. Corporal Grant Lernit of 
the RCMP claims they were going after bigger fish.

Lernit: "There are bigger elements to it than the lower-level 
individuals who are working. The couriers, the bagmen in between, 
those little guys are working towards the upper end, they are working 
up the ladder."

Macarenko: But the Americans still see the litte couriers and bagmen 
as a real threat.

Border cop: "We're under attack, little by little, little pieces at a 
time, and I think that this northern border is an area that needs to 
be ... that needs to be tended to."

Macarenko: When we come back, how far the RCMP will go to help Uncle 
Sam, and what Uncle Sam might do if we refuse.

Lampman: "We surely are not going to hesitate to go ahead and 
unilaterally meet our commitment to our citizens."

Macarenko: "Which means clamping down at the border?"

Lampman: "If it meant that, we would do it."

(Commercial break.)

Macarenko: By the summer of 1999, in the BC interior, the RCMP are 
deeply involved with the US Drug Enforcement Administration, going 
after marijuana exporters. In their enthusiasm to help the Americans, 
the RCMP have done some questionable things. When they tap the phone 
of a suspected marijuana exporter, they also share what they hear 
with the US DEA. Then, even when their investigation is wrapped up, 
they keep listening anyway until the US can start its own phone tap. 
International legal expert Michael Bolton says that's crossing the 
line, allowing a foreign government to listen in on a Canadian 
wiretap.

Bolton: "That should never happen. That affects the privacy of 
individuals in Canada. And that is an unwarranted intrusion into 
Canadian domestic affairs, and a blurring of the border that should 
never be allowed."

Macarenko: The border also gets pretty blurry when the Americans cook 
up a scheme to trick a Canadian into US prison. The RCMP tell the 
Americans that one of the marijuana runners is crossing the border. 
US agents follow him by air along mountain roads for two days and 
eventually arrest the guy with 43 pounds of marijuana in his vehicle. 
It was Peter Roberts, the courier.

Roberts: "The next day, 24 hours later, 'roll em up, you're out of 
here.' I couldn't believe my eyes, I couldn't believe my ears either. 
They let us go."

Macarenko: Roberts goes back to Canada, a free man. Because police on 
both sides are worried that if they charged him at that point, it 
would alert his bosses. Ten days later, RCMP raid seven homes in the 
Malaquat area. In three of them they find about 1,000 plants, and a 
bunch of growing equipment. The RCMP charge several people with 
conspiracy to export marijuana. Charges are also laid in the US. 
Peter Roberts then gets this surprise letter from US customs.

Macarenko: "The state of Washington has declined to press charges in 
this case. Therefore the government is obligated to return seized 
items to you. You are requested to personally pick up these items as 
your original signatures are required."

Roberts: "So I phoned and I said, yup, we'll meet you at the border. 
I had no idea what was going to happen. So I said to my wife, well I 
guess we can go get our truck."

Macarenko: "But why would you agree to go?"

Roberts: "Well, because I believed what the letter said: 'no charges, 
come get your stuff.'"

Macarenko: It was a trick. US officials are waiting, and arrest 
Roberts as soon as he shows up. The US DEA call this kind of tactic a 
'ruse', something they do all the time.

Fuego: "Oh I imagine you could, through a ruse, if you had another 
person down here that knew the guy, have him come down for a coffee 
someplace and then arrest him. Oh, you know, we would do that. But we 
wouldn't go up into Canada and arrest."

Macarenko: As if ruses and eavesdropping weren't enough, there was 
something else about the US/RCMP cooperation that upset people in the 
BC town of Malaquat much more, and that was how one man profited in 
the end, a man that they think should have been a target for the RCMP.

Macarenko: He was a local cocaine dealer, who lived here. Dennis 
Dober had been selling to local young people like Jay Martin for 
years.

Jay Martin: "Oh everybody knows that he was the dealer. He was the 
only guy around with coke."

Macarenko: "Even the police?"

Jay Martin: "Yup. The police knew."

Macarenko: The RCMP told Dober they wouldn't charge him for dealing 
cocaine, if he would befriend the marijuana growers and help the RCMP 
bust their operation. He was hired as a confidential informant, who 
wouldn't testify. Dennis Dober fed the RCMP information for months. 
Then, after the suspected marijuana runners were charged, Dennis 
Dober got a big pay-off. The RCMP gave him $440,000 and paid to move 
him out of town. In exchange, he has now agreed to testify in Canada 
and the US. Jay Martin's wife, Shelley Tessier, can't believe the 
RCMP made her husband's cocaine dealer rich.

Shelley: "They gave him $450,000 for ruining people's lives around 
here and he doesn't have to go to jail. He can do whatever he wants. 
And spend a half million dollars."

Macarenko: The RCMP claimed they weren't paying for testimony, they 
were just compensating Dober, because they had revealed his identity 
to the suspects.

Macarenko: "How do you get to a number like that? For some people   
it floors them when they hear this number."

RCMP spokesperson: "When you are making a determination like that you 
have to look at what is going to be required. In order to adequately 
provide the safety needs for a person who has agreed to the process 
where there has been any kind of disclosure that would compromise 
that individual's safety and the safety of their family."

Macarenko: The RCMP won't say anything else about their deal, or 
where they got the money. It's possible some of it could have come 
from the Americans. The US DEA pays informants in other countries all 
the time.

Fuego: "Say the RCMP have a source of information, and it directly 
leads to a seizure down here in the states. We will pay money, pay a 
reward through the RCMP, to their source."

Lawyer Michael Bolton says that in effect is putting paid foreign 
agents to work on Canadian soil.

Bolton: "That's an outrageous thing. I believe that most Canadians, 
including most Members of Parliament are not aware of that. It's a 
shocking thing, and its bound to breed corruption, its bound to breed 
entrapment or luring innocent people into crime. It's bound to breed 
perjured testimony. It's a very bad sign."

Macarenko: But why? Why would the RCMP go to so much trouble to help 
a foreign government go after smugglers  in BC yet, where the 
attitude toward marijuana is tolerant to say the least? Well at the 
time the US wasn't just pressuring Canada to cooperate on drug cases, 
it was also threatening to retaliate, in a big way if the RCMP didn't 
come through.

Background voice: "Subcommittee on immigration claims will come to order ..."

Macarenko: In 1999, Texas congressman Lamar Smith was one of the most 
vocal Americans upset about BC marijuana smuggling. He wanted 
congress to put a law into effect that would basically close the open 
border. All Canadians would be considered aliens, who would have to 
register to cross. It would have been a huge border clampdown and 
Canadians would have had to wait in line for hours. Smith backed down 
only after Canada agreed to do more joint investigations like the BC 
drug case. Smith has even sent his chief of staff, John Lampman up to 
Canada to meet with high-ranking members of the RCMP.

Macarenko: "What if Canada doesn't come through with some resources 
to keep up its end of the deal?"

Lampman: "I think what we're looking at there is unilateral action by 
the United States. The United States is not going to fail to meet its 
commitment to its citizens. We want to do it with the cooperation of 
our neighbours, and that is the preferred way to go. But if Canada, 
for whatever reason, should fail to meet its part of the cooperative 
effort, we certainly are not going to hesitate to go unilaterally 
ahead and meet our commitment to our citizens."

Macarenko: "Which means clamping down at the border?"

Lampman: "If it meant that, we would do it."

Macarenko: There are many people in Vancouver who think that Canada 
shouldn't be caving into that threat, that RCMP should be paying more 
attention to drugs coming into Canada from the US. In a recent 
survey, 64% agree that police are spending too much time and public 
money arresting marijuana growers. That instead, they should be 
focusing on people who sell hard drugs, like heroin, and cocaine.

Macarenko: Cocaine is a huge problem for Vancouver. In 1999, 168 
cocaine addicts like Mandy Blakemore died of overdoses in BC. Mandy 
Blakemore died a couple days after this video tape was shot. Police 
on both sides of the border believe that this Washington state 
highway is a pipeline that brings cocaine into BC from the US. People 
drive up hauling loads of cocaine from California. Sometimes they 
bought it with the money they made selling BC pot.

Fuego: "We are seeing the pot go down, and then we are seeing these 
huge shipments of cocaine going up. If you can smuggle it with a 
backpack, crossing the berry fields bringing the bud down, you can do 
the same thing with taking cocaine up. The chances again of getting 
caught ... there's great odds."

Macarenko: At the border, the cocaine runners can just park in the US 
and then walk into Canada. The US border patrolmen are looking the 
other way, watching for marijuana runners coming from the north.

Border officer: "These berry bushes make it hard to see into ..."

Macarenko: They didn't catch any of the cocaine that people packed 
through the BC/Washington border this year. The RCMP didn't get much 
either. In 1999, when they were going after BC marijuana, RCMP 
cocaine seizures dropped to the lowest amount in seven years. 15 tons 
of cocaine get into Canada every year through various ports of entry.

Neil Boyd: "Purity has increased, prices dropped relative to 
inflation. Availability has increased."

Macarenko: Criminologist Neil Boyd has been telling Ottawa's Senate 
Committee on Illicit Drugs that Canada should get its priorities 
straight, and get out of the US war on marijuana. He's been writing 
about Canada's drug policy for years.

Boyd: "All of this effort by America is helping their 'problem with 
marijuana.' It isn't helping us deal with our heroin overdoses. It 
isn't helping us deal with our cocaine problem. And it's a really bad 
deal for us. It's another example of the kind of subtle and not so 
subtle way that America bullies the world."

Macarenko: Back in this part of the world, Malaquat BC, the irony is 
that the deal between the RCMP hasn't even given the Americans what 
they wanted. It's now been a year and a half since Colin Martin and 
the other accused pot smugglers were charged, and they still haven't 
gone to trial. It may be years before there's a trial, if ever. 
They're challenging the wiretap, the payment to the informant, and 
the American involvement. The thousands of hours and all the money 
the RCMP put into their investigation has put only one Canadian in 
jail, Peter Roberts, the marijuana courier, a 62-year-old diabetic 
who is doing five years in US federal prison.