Pubdate: Fri, 11 Mar 2005 Source: Ottawa Citizen (CN ON) Copyright: 2005 The Ottawa Citizen Contact: http://www.canada.com/ottawa/ottawacitizen/ Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/326 Author: Tom Blackwell, National Post Related: http://www.csdp.org/news/news/newresearch.htm 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'S POTENT MARIJUANA RAISES WRATH OF U.S. DRUG CZAR Number of Americans Needing Hospitalization Skyrocketing: Official WASHINGTON - The number of Americans ending up seeking medical treatment because of marijuana use has soared in recent years, and seems linked to the "dramatically" growing influx of potent Canadian marijuana, the White House drug czar said yesterday. 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 grow-ops. The marijuana trade, he said, "has grown dramatically. ... The question that is always on our side of the border, and on theirs (is) 'How many more people will suffer until we are able to change the trend line?' " The elevated THC content -- the active ingredient in the drug -- of Canadian marijuana means it can no longer be considered a soft drug, argued Mr. Walters, director of the White House Office of National Drug Control Policy. A spokesman for the Canadian Embassy in Washington said yesterday 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. Mr. Walters' concerns, voiced at a news conference, reflect a growing anxiety among some politicians and government officials in the U.S. 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 Mr. Walters focused yesterday on marijuana, 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 more than for all other drugs combined, including alcohol, he said. 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, also supply such high-powered marijuana, Mr. 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. But the higher potency means that one in five marijuana-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." - --- MAP posted-by: Richard Lake