Canadians Satisfy U.S. Hunger for Marijuana August 9, 2001
News Summary
In homes and warehouses in British Columbia, marijuana is being grown by the tons and smuggled into the United States, the St. Petersburg Times reported July 29.Police in British Columbia estimate that there are 10,000 growing operations in the Vancouver area alone. Up to 75 percent of Canadian marijuana ends up in the United States. Known as B.C. Bud, the marijuana is prized by users from Los Angeles to New York.
Marijuana growing in Canada comes with only minor penalties, making it an attractive business. The U.S. has criticized Canada for not doing more to prevent the international marijuana trade.
"Canadian courts have been reluctant to impose tough sentences, reflecting a widespread view that drugs are a 'victimless' crime and should be treated primarily as a health issue," the U.S. State Department said in its most recent report on global drug trends. "Sentencing guidelines, together with stronger judicial and public support, would increase the impact of Canada's law-enforcement efforts and create a stronger deterrent to transnational crime."
On the flip side, Canadian officials fault the U.S., saying this country's punitive approach has failed to reduce marijuana use. "They don't seem to have a handle on their own problems," said Robert Metzer, a chief judge in British Columbia. "I don't see why they should be criticizing us for ours."
Neil Boyd, a criminologist at Simon Fraser University in Vancouver, explained that Canadian judges are not bound to the mandatory sentencing rules of their U.S. counterparts and often look at drug stings as violations of civil rights.
"The courts have been very skeptical about using very strong criminal sanctions in relation to cannabis," said Boyd. "In Canada, the majority of well-educated people just don't see this to be as serious a threat as alcohol or tobacco abuse, and if you don't see it to be as significant a threat, why are we using criminal law to control it?"
"Leaders here really haven't tried to milk the drug scare, and in the media we've had some very balanced programs about more-humane approaches to drug use," said Patricia Erickson, a University of Toronto criminologist and expert on drug use and abuse. "I think in the States people have gotten a more one-sided view than Canadians."
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