U S / Canada Dope Wars~ “BC Bud” 2006 03 14 (ABC Au)

U.S. / Canada Dope Wars~ “BC Bud” 2006 03 14 (ABC Au)

Broadcast: 14/03/2006

Program : Foreign Correspondent ABC Australia

Reporter: Mark Simkin

Video capture: rm

North America correspondent Mark Simkin, goes north of the border to report on Canada’s biggest growth industry – dope….a $6 billion export industry.

He travels to the picturesque province of British Columbia, which is at the center of the multi-billion dollar trade. Growers specialize in indoor operations, using private homes with powerful lights and carbon dioxide to make the plants grow faster and stronger. The result is some of the most powerful cannabis in the world, known as “BC Bud”.

Huge quantities of this powerful “BC Bud” are being smuggled into the US, and the Americans are putting pressure on the Canadian government to crack down on the easy-going cannabis culture.

The US is trying to extradite Canada’s self-styled “Prince of Pot”, Marc Emery, who runs a huge marijuana media empire, built with funds from his former mail order seed business – with thousands of clients in Canada, the US and Australia. If the extradition succeeds, Emery faces 35 years in prison – for a crime the Canadian authorities refuse to prosecute.

Canada has a very relaxed attitude to marijuana. It’s not strictly legal, but the laws are very loosely enforced, and it’s easy to gain legal access to the drug with a doctor’s certificate. There are even special clubs where Canadians can go to buy, and smoke.

A Canadian Senate report has just recommended that cannabis be legalized, and treated like alcohol, and pretty soon the government will be distributing its own crop of medical marijuana in pharmacies.

All of this is anathema to the US, which arrests far more people for marijuana offences than for any other drug. And US authorities are determined to use the “Prince of Pot” as an example, with a senior Drug Enforcement Agency official telling Simkin:

“Marc Emery managed a massive criminal enterprise making millions of millions of dollars at the expense of our communities and children here in the US … someone might think they’re safe in another part of the world and that no one’s ever going to get them, well they better think twice about that.”

Emery faces an extradition hearing that begins in January 2008.

The US prosecution of Emery has Canadians up in arms – they see the case as an example of a powerful neighbour trying to impose its moral code on a country that traditionally takes a more liberal attitude to a whole host of issues. “The United States to me operates not just like a bully but it’s also an abusive relationship,” one Canadian tells Simkin. But as Simkin reports – there’s a lot more than cannabis at stake for Canada, which is heavily reliant on American trade.

Meanwhile, BC Bud faces a higher Canadian dollar coupled high costs and risks of smuggling, and resurgent competition from Mexican pot.  This means cheaper domestic prices and more supply.