Pubdate: Fri, 11 Mar 2005
Source: Vancouver Sun (CN BC)
Copyright: 2005 The Vancouver Sun
Contact:  http://www.canada.com/vancouver/vancouversun/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/477
Author: Tom Blackwell, The National Post
Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/mjcn.htm (Cannabis - Canada)
Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/rehab.htm (Treatment)
Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/walters.htm (Walters, John)

U.S. OFFICIAL: CANADIAN POT NO SOFT DRUG

White House Drug Czar Claims High-Powered Marijuana Sends Teens To 
Emergency Wards

WASHINGTON -- The number of American teenagers and adults who are ending up 
in emergency wards or seeking treatment because of marijuana use has soared 
in recent years and seems linked to the "dramatically" growing influx of 
high-test Canadian pot, the White House drug czar said Thursday.

John Walters estimated the industry is also funnelling "billions" of 
dollars into the pockets of organized crime north of the border and said 
Canadian prosecutors tell him they need tougher laws to combat the 
growing-operations bonanza.

"It has grown dramatically," he said of the northern pot trade.

"The question that is always on our side of the border, and on theirs, when 
these problems arise is: 'How many more people will suffer until we are 
able to change the trend line?' "

The elevated THC content -- which is the active ingredient in pot -- of 
Canadian marijuana means it can no longer be considered a soft drug, argued 
Walters, director of the White House Office of National Drug Control Policy.

His concerns, voiced at a news conference, reflect a growing anxiety among 
some politicians and government officials in the United States about 
Canada, a country not traditionally viewed as a major supplier of drugs.

The export of ecstasy pills made in Canadian labs and of the chemical 
ingredients of illicit narcotics, such as methamphetamine, have also caught 
the attention of the Americans, as underlined in a State Department report 
released last week.

But Walters focused Thursday on marijuana.

The number of Americans admitted to hospital emergency wards because of 
marijuana use has doubled to 120,000 annually in the last five years, he 
said. Meanwhile, the number of teenagers seeking treatment for marijuana 
dependency has grown to the point where it is more than for all other drugs 
combined, including alcohol, said the official.

The phenomenon has paralleled a growing potency of marijuana available in 
the North America, from containing one to two per cent THC less than a 
decade ago to eight to nine per cent and, in some cases, 20 per cent or 
more in recent years, he said.

Other countries, such as Mexico, do supply such high-powered marijuana, 
Walters acknowledged. "But the big new factor on the scene is . . . the 
enormous growth of very high potency marijuana coming from Canada."

He said most people, especially those who grew up in the 1960s and 1970s, 
view marijuana as a soft drug that does not warrant much concern. But the 
higher potency means that one in five pot-smoking Americans age 12 to 17 
progress to needing treatment or "intervention" for marijuana abuse, he said.

"That was not the way marijuana use was moving a decade ago or two decades 
ago."

Walters praised the cooperation that American authorities have had from 
Canadian police, especially the RCMP, which he described as "one of the 
finest police organizations in the world." But he said prosecutors have 
told him that the current Criminal Code sanctions are not stiff enough to 
deter growing-operation criminals and "without the ability to use more 
extensive enforcement pressure, they're concerned about how this will 
continue to grow."

A spokesman for the Canadian Embassy in Washington said Thursday that 
Canadian marijuana still only accounts for one to two per cent of the 
product sold in the U.S., while Canada imports most of its cocaine from the 
U.S.

Denise Rudnicki, a spokeswoman for federal Justice Minister Irwin Cotler, 
noted that new legislation before Parliament that would de-criminalize 
simple possession of marijuana would also double maximum penalties for 
those running marijuana growing operations to 14 years from seven. In some 
cases, judges who did not impose a prison term would have to provide 
written justification.

Meanwhile, Public Safety Minister Anne McLellan has said that judges need 
to get tougher on those behind the operations and suggested the marijuana 
bill could be further strengthened.
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