Quebec City, Quebec: U.S. Drug Czar John Walters announced yesterday that the U.S. government strongly disagrees with Canada’s plans to liberalize its laws regarding the recreational and medicinal use of marijuana. Walters made his remarks while speaking at the College on Problems of Drug Dependence, Inc.’s 64th Annual Meeting in Quebec City.
Last May, the Canadian Senate’s Special Committee on Illegal Drugs published a preliminary report concluding that marijuana is a relatively harmless drug that has little impact on public safety. The committee is expected to recommend decriminalizing pot later this year.
Walters implied that such a decision could “certainly become a problem” for the U.S. government if it leads to an increase in marijuana trafficking. The Czar had previously threatened trade sanctions against Canada if Parliament relaxed the country’s pot laws, according to Canadian press reports.
“The United States has a history of exporting its failed drug policies throughout the globe, and using strong-arm tactics to ensure that other nations do not depart from those policies,” said Allen St. Pierre, Executive Director of The NORML Foundation.
Earlier this year, Canadian Health Minister Anne McLellan announced that U.S. officials had sabotaged Canada’s federal medicinal marijuana distribution program by denying Health Canada access to the U.S. government’s supply of research-quality seeds. Health Canada legalized the possession, use and cultivation of medicinal cannabis by qualified patients last July. Walters and U.S. federal drug policy reject any use of marijuana as a medicine.
Last year, U.S. government officials similarly threatened to withhold foreign aid from Jamaica if that country moved forward with a Parliamentary recommendation to decriminalize marijuana.
For more information, please contact either Allen St. Pierre or Paul Armentano of The NORML Foundation at (202) 483-8751.