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U.S. drug czar targets Canadian pot
Potency increasing: Says tougher laws needed to fight marijuana cultivation
Tom Blackwell
National Post
March 11, 2005
CREDIT: Marco Di Lauro, Getty Images
American officials are complaining that high-strength marijuana produced by Canadian growing operations is putting unsuspecting young Americans in hospital.
WASHINGTON - The number of American teenagers and adults ending up in emergency wards or seeking treatment because of marijuana use has soared in recent years and seems linked to "dramatically" growing imports of high-potency Canadian canabis, 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 the marijuana-growing bonanza.
"It has grown dramatically," he said of the northern marijuana 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 intoxicating ingredient -- 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.
His concerns, voiced at a news conference, reflect a growing anxiety among some politicians and government officials 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, like methamphetamine, have also caught the attention of the Americans, as underlined in a State Department report issued last week.
But yesterday Mr. Walters focused on the marijuana problem and how, he contends, it is affecting young people in the United States.
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.
The phenomenon has paralleled a growing potency of marijuana available in the North America, from that containing 1% to 2% THC less than a decade ago, to between 8% and 9% and, in some cases, 20% or more in recent years, he said.
Other countries, like 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 that does not warrant much concern. But the higher potency means that one in five pot-smoking Americans age 12 to 17 progress to needing treatment or "intervention" for marijuana abuse.
Mr. 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 that the current Criminal Code penalties are not stiff enough to deter marijuana-cultivation criminals and "without the ability to use more extensive enforcement pressure, they're concerned about how this will continue to grow."
__________________
Give me a break. 120,000 teens hospitalised for smoking a doob? Wtf? I smoke Canada's finest all the time, and I've never even come close to feeling out of sorts - outside of my expectations of euphoria at least. Methinks that should the US ever come to outright own our asses that our "really scary pot" will suddenly become a major commodity, à la Afghanistan's opium trade.
Are we cutting into your profits, Billy Bob?
Potency increasing: Says tougher laws needed to fight marijuana cultivation
Tom Blackwell
National Post
March 11, 2005
CREDIT: Marco Di Lauro, Getty Images
American officials are complaining that high-strength marijuana produced by Canadian growing operations is putting unsuspecting young Americans in hospital.
WASHINGTON - The number of American teenagers and adults ending up in emergency wards or seeking treatment because of marijuana use has soared in recent years and seems linked to "dramatically" growing imports of high-potency Canadian canabis, 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 the marijuana-growing bonanza.
"It has grown dramatically," he said of the northern marijuana 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 intoxicating ingredient -- 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.
His concerns, voiced at a news conference, reflect a growing anxiety among some politicians and government officials 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, like methamphetamine, have also caught the attention of the Americans, as underlined in a State Department report issued last week.
But yesterday Mr. Walters focused on the marijuana problem and how, he contends, it is affecting young people in the United States.
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.
The phenomenon has paralleled a growing potency of marijuana available in the North America, from that containing 1% to 2% THC less than a decade ago, to between 8% and 9% and, in some cases, 20% or more in recent years, he said.
Other countries, like 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 that does not warrant much concern. But the higher potency means that one in five pot-smoking Americans age 12 to 17 progress to needing treatment or "intervention" for marijuana abuse.
Mr. 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 that the current Criminal Code penalties are not stiff enough to deter marijuana-cultivation criminals and "without the ability to use more extensive enforcement pressure, they're concerned about how this will continue to grow."
__________________
Give me a break. 120,000 teens hospitalised for smoking a doob? Wtf? I smoke Canada's finest all the time, and I've never even come close to feeling out of sorts - outside of my expectations of euphoria at least. Methinks that should the US ever come to outright own our asses that our "really scary pot" will suddenly become a major commodity, à la Afghanistan's opium trade.
Are we cutting into your profits, Billy Bob?
