cannabisnews.com: Pot Smuggling Clogs Courts in Border Region 





Pot Smuggling Clogs Courts in Border Region 
Posted by FoM on April 01, 2000 at 07:26:34 PT
By Scott Sunde, Seattle Post-Intelligencer Reporte
Source: Seattle P-I
James Dennis had company a week ago when he pulled his 28-foot Bayliner into a Port Townsend marina.Agents from the U.S. Customs Service found 160 pounds of marijuana stored in six bags under the cabin deck, according to court documents.
The potent "B.C. Bud" marijuana, grown across the border from Washington, is worth more than $500,000 in Seattle, but would fetch more than $1 million in Los Angeles and an even higher price on the streets of New York.Yet the most remarkable aspect so far in the criminal case is that it is unremarkable. It's another drug-smuggling case in a region where courts are groaning under the strain of marijuana prosecutions.The Dennis case -- the fruit of a task force of state and federal law enforcement agencies -- underscores the escalating drug war north of Seattle, now being waged on land, air and sea.This week, a federal grand jury indicted Dennis, a 64-year-old Port Angeles man, on drug charges.Earlier this month, customs agents searched a boat that arrived from Canada at Cap Sante Marina near Anacortes and found 130 pounds of B.C. Bud. Robert Barnes of Kirkland faces federal charges in connection with the drug seizure.In February, two large duffle bags were taken off a boat that had arrived from Canada at Birch Bay near Blaine, Wash. A man drove the bags -- believed to be filled with marijuana -- to different locations in Oregon, picking up packages that contained cash, according to court documents.Federal agents ultimately arrested three men and seized more than $185,000 in cash. They face several charges, including violating U.S. laws that require large cash transfers across the border to be reported.The cases haven't fallen just on federal courts.About 10 percent of the adult felony cases that Whatcom County prosecutes every year involve the border and drugs, mostly marijuana, said prosecutor David McEachran.The drug cases are "just killing" the rural county's court system, said N.F. Jackson, county clerk and Superior Court administrator.Drug prosecutions stemming from border stops in Whatcom County jumped from 103 in 1997 to 188 in 1998, he said, and the trend is continuing.Jackson said the drug cases are slowing other prosecutions and delaying civil suits.There's enough action on the northern front that federal money pays the salary of a prosecutor and secretary in McEachran's office.Authorities say the number of drug convictions would soar if more state and federal agents were assigned to the border."My impression is how many we catch depends on how many agents we have out there," said Doug Whalley, a federal prosecutor in Seattle.The Customs Service is seeking additional resources, both agents and aircraft, to watch for smugglers.The agency is pitted against a high-potency, low-risk crop grown in British Columbia, then sold for top dollar.This month, Time magazine declared B.C. Bud "the world's best pot." Its THC content -- the active ingredient -- is 30 percent, compared with as little as 5 percent with cheaper marijuana harvested elsewhere.Canadian marijuana growers have been arrested and prosecuted, but they face little punishment. Last week, a Vancouver judge made headlines from Winnipeg to Hong Kong by sending a grower to prison for two years. That was eight times the sentence prosecutors sought.Washington often is just a transit point, law enforcement officials said. Those who bring the marijuana over the border can make thousands of dollars per shipment.On the Olympic Peninsula, police and prosecutors are more concerned with methamphetamines than marijuana. But after last week, they may have to worry more about pot.A drug task force on the peninsula got a tip earlier in the month from the Coast Guard about possible marijuana smuggling from Canada, said Rick Porter, a Clallam County senior deputy prosecutor.Law enforcement agencies focused on Dennis and his Bayliner early in the morning on March 22, according to court documents. The Coast Guard watched Dennis' boat, the Dolphin, leave the Port Townsend boat basin that morning, according to court documents.A detective with the Washington State Patrol picked up the surveillance later in a Civil Air Patrol plane. A Border Patrol plane took over in Canada until the Dolphin was below controlled air space near Vancouver International Airport.On March 24, the Dolphin was spotted making its way back to Port Townsend. Customs agents reported finding the marijuana on board later that morning.Porter said that nothing about Dennis indicates he led a lavish lifestyle. He had extensive bills from recent medical problems, and told federal authorities he lives on Social Security. He is poor enough to qualify for a court-appointed attorney.P-I reporter Scott Sunde can be reached at 206-448-8331 or scottsunde seattle-pi.comPublished: Saturday, April 1, 2000© 1998-2000 Seattle Post-IntelligencerRelated Articles:Super Pot: B.C.'s Bonanzahttp://www.cannabisnews.com/news/thread4546.shtml Tripping Down British Columbia's Ho Chi Minh Trail http://www.cannabisnews.com/news/thread2397.shtml
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