Pubdate: Fri, 11 Mar 2005 Source: Edmonton Journal (CN AB) Copyright: 2005 The Edmonton Journal Contact: http://www.canada.com/edmonton/edmontonjournal/ Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/134 Author: Tom Blackwell, National Post; CanWest News Service 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) CANADA BLAMED FOR GREATER U.S. POT PROBLEM More Teens Seek Treatment As Supply Of High-Potency Drug Soars, Official Says WASHINGTON - The number of American teens 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 to organized crime north of the border and said Canadian prosecutors tell him they need tougher laws to combat the grow-operation 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 the 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 growing anxiety 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 Americans. 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, he added. The phenomenon has paralleled a growing potency of marijuana available in 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 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 co-operation 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 current Criminal Code sanctions are not stiff enough to deter grow-op 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. - --- MAP posted-by: Beth