Pubdate: Fri, 11 Mar 2005
Source: Victoria Times-Colonist (CN BC)
Copyright: 2005 Times Colonist
Contact:  http://www.canada.com/victoria/timescolonist/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/481
Author: Tom Blackwell, CanWest News Service
Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/mjcn.htm (Cannabis - Canada)
Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/walters.htm (Walters, John)

U.S. DRUG CZAR LINKS CANADIAN WEED TO SOARING HOSPITALIZATION OF USERS

WASHINGTON -- The number of American teenagers and adults 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 grow-op 
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 -- 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 the marijuana problem and how, he contends, 
it is affecting young people in the U.S.

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 higher 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.
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MAP posted-by: Beth