SMUGGLING TIMELINE

The United States mainly casts the net of its international war on drugs southward, but U.S. Senator Charles Schumer recently made news after admonishing Congress and the White House to develop a comprehensive national anti-drug policy for its border with Canada. Quoted by the Associated Press, the New York Democrat cited increased seizures of marijuana and other drugs at the Canadian border to suggest a new policy was needed, one styled on the one already in place on its boundary with Mexico.

A large market exists south of the border for Canadian-grown marijuana and designer drugs, such as ecstasy. Border enforcement agents seize hundreds of kilograms of cannabis and pills headed south every year. This is likely the tip of the iceberg.

According to a 1999 report by the Canadian Senate Special Committee on Illegal Drugs, 60 to 70 percent of an estimated 550 tonnes of marijuana grown in Canada annually finds its way to the U.S. The United Nations, in its World Drug Report for 2009, also identified Canada as the primary global producer and exporter of ecstasy.

Whatever the intent may be in proposals to modify the United States’ border strategy with Canada, academics and law enforcement alike are quick to emphasize the adaptability and resilience of organized crime and smuggling rings.

Meanwhile, Canadian groups are pressuring for the decriminalization of marijuana, and California will hold a referendum in November on its legalization. With or without a new border strategy, the most widely consumed illicit drug in North America may be destined for decriminalization.

Hugh Pouliot

(Photo: flickr/N.ico)