cannabisnews.com: Stop Marijuana Trade, U.S. Drug Czar Urges





Stop Marijuana Trade, U.S. Drug Czar Urges
Posted by CN Staff on November 22, 2002 at 05:28:13 PT
By Robert Matas
Source: Globe and Mail 
Riding high after U.S. states rejected measures to relax drug laws, drug czar John Walters came to Canada this week to talk tough about a new front in the drug war.Marijuana poses a greater danger to the United States than heroin, cocaine or amphetamines, said Mr. Walters, the director of the White House Office of National Drug Control Policy, in an interview yesterday in Vancouver.
About 60 per cent of six million people who need treatment services for drug abuse in the United States are dependent on marijuana, he said.Earlier this month, Mr. Walters campaigned against measures to relax drug laws in Nevada, Arizona and Ohio.Despite well-financed campaigns by pro-marijuana advocates, voters in those states rejected the measures.Mr. Walters said he is making his first-ever visit to Vancouver because British Columbia increasingly supplies marijuana to Americans.The U.S. government had succeeded somewhat in controlling the flow of drugs across its southern border with Mexico, he said.But while it was looking south, British Columbia developed a $6-billion industry of what he described as the most potent, most commonly addictive drug in the United States.Police told him that 95 per cent of the B.C. product is exported to the United States.The psychoactive ingredient in B.C. marijuana is up to four times stronger than in other marijuana currently available on U.S. streets, he said."The problem we face is that people do not appreciate the danger that marijuana poses, particularly for young people," he said.Mr. Walters, who is described in U.S. media as a law-and-order conservative, has advocated severe prison sentences for marijuana smugglers as well as allowing the military to play a lead role in interdiction.He said he has not spent enough time in B.C. to fully understand what is going on in the province. However, Canada's approach to marijuana conflicts directly with Mr. Walters's views on the drug and how to deal with it.Legalizing marijuana -- which has been recommended by a Senate committee in Canada -- is "ludicrous," he said. Allowing marijuana use for medical purposes -- which is federal policy in Canada -- is not supported by science, he said.Despite the differences, Mr. Walters said he wants greater co-operation from Canada on enforcement of antimarijuana laws.Earlier this year, U.S. officials reported they had seized nearly twice as much marijuana at the B.C.-Washington state border as in the year before.Mr. Walters said targets have not been set to further reduce cross-border marijuana traffic. He anticipated that stepped-up measures introduced mostly for security reasons will have an impact on the flow of drugs through Vancouver's port and border crossings.Offering a glimpse of what is in store, he said he expected more prescreening of commercial goods at the ports and airports.New technology will be introduced to allow inspectors to scan shipping containers without opening them. New devices are being developed to measure gases and other emissions, he said.Mr. Walters also anticipated more prescreening of individuals.However, the strongest efforts to disrupt the drug trade should not be made at the border, Mr. Walters said."Trying to do this at the border is like trying to hit a pitch in baseball blindfolded," he said. "You may once in a while connect but it is largely going to be an accident."He would not comment on what he expected law-enforcement agencies in Canada to do.RCMP Constable Danielle Efford later said Mr. Walters and the RCMP "shared information and ideas" during a private informal meeting.The RCMP is committed to work with its partners in the United States and elsewhere, she said. However, she would provide no details about the discussions.Note: $6-billion worth of highly potent B.C. product flows south each year, director says. Source: Globe and Mail (Canada)Author:  Robert MatasPublished: Friday, November 22, 2002 – Print Edition, Page A7Copyright: 2002 The Globe and Mail CompanyContact: letters globeandmail.caWebsite: http://www.globeandmail.ca/Related Articles & Web Site:Cannabis News Canadian Linkshttp://freedomtoexhale.com/can.htmCanada's Pot Proposal Worries UShttp://cannabisnews.com/news/thread14459.shtmlU.S. Warns Against Liberalizing Laws on Pothttp://cannabisnews.com/news/thread14331.shtmlCanadian Pot Debate Worries U.S. Officialshttp://cannabisnews.com/news/thread14302.shtml 
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Comment #9 posted by DdC on November 23, 2002 at 14:17:57 PT
That should read are forced into treatment...
About 60 per cent of six million people who need treatment services for drug abuse in the United States are dependent on marijuana, he said.Lots of type-o's in this article. Even the dumbass Waldo can't believe ganja is worse than junk or speed? Can he be that stupid? If it was any other 4 legged creature I might wonder. But alas its Waldo. Yes I do believe he is serious. Seriously braindead.Why I waste my time reading such dribble is beyond me. Must be for the chuckles of his ignorance. Though his ignorance isn't funny, its ridiculous.Thank You Canada!
http://www.cannabinoid.com/wwwboard/politics/binaries/29/29478.gifPeace, Love and Liberty or Waldo World of D.E.A.th Decptions... DdC
O.N.D.C.P.tions....
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Comment #8 posted by Naaps on November 23, 2002 at 08:45:49 PT
The Walters’ Visit to Vancouver
I would have liked to been in the New Amsterdam with Steve Tuck when Walters showed. Not that I had any special reception, or respect for Walters, by just to see his dismay, to see him looking at the partakers whom undermine his message, whom underline the falsehood of his entire stance.This article is brimming with misinformation. Comments attributed to Walters in quotation marks aren’t such a concern, because one expects the man to have a hysterical, extreme point of view. But unsubstantiated figures such as the $6 Billion a year of pot being grown in British Columbia, or the claim that 95% of it is exported, are merely higher range estimates, from reports that sought to garner more money and support from the government for interdiction efforts. The article should have declared these figures suspect, instead it they are presented as hard fact.Cannabis prohibition has historical roots in bigotry and ignorance. Now, leading the charge, dumbing down the masses is Mr. Walters. The core of his assertions is merely state-sanctioned prejudice.Kaptinemo, good to see you’re posting. Walters and Senator Nolin did meet face to face in Quebec City on June 12th this year. The Senators were just commencing work on their final report and Walters came to town to give a keynote speech for a meeting of the College on Problems of Drug Dependence. The meeting was informal, no notes or minutes were taken. It would have been interesting to see Senator Nolin clash with Walters.
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Comment #7 posted by unknown pleasures on November 22, 2002 at 13:22:39 PT
This one make my day!
Walters on BC bud: "...the most potent, most commonly addictive drug in the United States."That man is one step away from delivering speeches in a tin-foil helmet to stop 'terrorists from scrambling his brain-waves.'"He said he has not spent enough time in B.C. to fully understand what is going on in the province."As a Canadian, I can tell you that BC is a desolate, uninhabited wasteland, as everyone who lived there has long since died from marijuana overdose. The abandoned igloos make perfect hide-outs for Al-Queda, and should be bombed ASAP... lol.
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Comment #6 posted by Duzt on November 22, 2002 at 09:41:32 PT
Our taxes again
It's bad enough he came here to Nevada to tell us how to vote on our money but now he's using our taxes to tell Canadians how to live? Isn't it the National Drug control policy, not international?
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Comment #5 posted by freddybigbee on November 22, 2002 at 07:48:41 PT:
Know-it-all
"The problem we face is that people do not appreciate the danger that marijuana poses, particularly for young people," he said.Any chance you are overstating the "dangers" to the point that people don't believe a word you say? No, you are a czar so whatever you say is by definition the truth. In a dictatorship that is.If only we had urinated away 20 trillion dollars instead of 20 billion this year on the WOSD, then perhaps people would appreciate the danger. By the way, is a year or five years in a cage for a joint or a plant a danger? Do you think that people appreciate that?
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Comment #4 posted by Ron Bennett on November 22, 2002 at 07:07:16 PT
Cannabis Greater Threat Than Meth?
Walters obviously hasn't visit http://methinfo.com then lately...it's damn right scary reading the site regarding methamphetamines and all that goes along with it...and yet meth is considered safer by the U.S. government. Crazy!!The more the govt cracks down on cannabis, the more popular and available methamphetamines and other easily manufactured and smuggleable substances will become, especially to young people. Oh well, I guess that's progress :-(Ron
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Comment #3 posted by charmed quark on November 22, 2002 at 06:53:15 PT:
We should inform our senators 
I suggest that everyone write your senators stating that Mr. Walter has publically stated that he is focusing the "war on drugs" on recreational and medical marijuana as he considers cannabis a greater threat to our country than "heroin, cocain, or methamphetamines". Whatever you think about the "war on drugs", I doubt anybody would want this sort of use of their tax dollars - for a personal moral war on the illicit drug that seems to cause the least harm of all illicit drugs. Few voters would view this as the proper focus of the Drug Czar. Suggest to your senator that Mr. Walters seems to have gone off the deep end.-Peter
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Comment #2 posted by goneposthole on November 22, 2002 at 06:40:31 PT
Now Showing Worldwide
"Global War On Drugs and Terrorism" at a theatre near you.Price of Admission: Your civil liberties and everything you have. 
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Comment #1 posted by kaptinemo on November 22, 2002 at 05:43:28 PT:
Canadians are too polite
When John "Pee" Walters comes to town, the inhabitants can expect to have some rhetorical urine sprayed in their faces and be expected to identify it as rain. The latest nonsense about cannabis is just more of this foul smelling yellow stuff being sprayed in the Canuck's faces. But, bless 'em, the Canucks don't provide a retort, they just print his remarks in toto, so that anyone with a brain can see them for the lies they are.Too bad we can't have a debate between Canuck Senator Nolin and Walters; Walters would be sliced to ribbons. Just as he would with almost any reformer.
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