US embassy cable - 03OTTAWA2014

C O N F I D E N T I A L SECTION 01 OF 05 OTTAWA 002014 
 
SIPDIS 
 
WHITE HOUSE FOR ONDCP (CRANE, BAUM), CNC, NDIC; DOJ FOR 
OFFICE OF INTERNATIONAL AFFAIRS (BURKE); DHS FOR BTS; DHS 
FOR CNO (MACKIN) 
 
E.O. 12958: DECL: 07/16/2013 
TAGS: SNAR, PREL, KRIM, CA 
SUBJECT: CANADIAN OFFICIALS DISCUSS DRUG CONTROL STRATEGY 
 
 
Classified By: Pol MC Brian Flora for reasons 1.5(b) and (d) 
 
1.(SBU) Summary: In a series of meetings with Dr. Barry Crane 
of the White House Office of National Drug Control Policy, 
officials from several Canadian government departments set 
out the government of Canada's drug control strategy. While 
the GoC appears intent on displaying a more serious approach 
to drug control, it wants to devote more attention to public 
education and studies than enforcement, and the scale of its 
efforts seems inadequate in relation to Canada's increasing 
drug problems. End summary. 
 
2.(U) White House Office of National Drug Control Policy 
Deputy Director for Supply Reduction Dr. Barry Crane 
discussed drug control policy with officials from several 
Canadian federal government departments in Ottawa, on July 8. 
Dr. Crane visited officials at the Department of Foreign 
Affairs and International Trade (DFAIT), Health Canada and 
the Canadian Center on Substance Abuse, the Department of 
Justice, and the Department of the Solicitor General. He also 
held a lunch meeting with members of the Parliament of Canada 
on Parliament Hill. Dr. Crane discussed the broad objectives 
of U.S. drug policy, and concerns about current trends in the 
use of methamphetamine by Americans. The Canadian officials 
described their government's new national drug strategy, the 
roles played by their respective departments, and GoC's 
proposal that possession of small amounts of marijuana be 
decriminalized. Other U.S. representatives attending the 
meetings were Richard Baum, Branch Chief, International 
Policy and Interdiction, 
White House Office of National Drug Control Policy; Tony 
Pratapas, DEA Attache, U.S. Embassy Ottawa; and Mary Witt and 
Craig Bryant, Political Officers, U.S. Embassy Ottawa. 
 
------------------- 
Dr. Crane's Message 
------------------- 
 
3.(C) Dr. Crane delivered a consistent message at each 
meeting. While it is not the role of U.S. officials to tell 
Canada what drug policies it should follow, Dr. Crane said, 
it is the responsibility of the U.S. government to protect 
its population, and particularly its children, from illicit 
drugs. Noting that Canada is a significant supplier of 
precursor chemicals, used in the illegal production of 
methamphetamine in the U.S., Dr. Crane commented that 
methamphetamine might be more widely consumed in the U.S. 
than cocaine in just a few years. As a result, the USG is 
compelled to take actions to try and limit, if not eliminate, 
the methamphetamine threat. Dr. Crane also noted that high 
potency marijuana presents a similar risk to the U.S. High 
potency marijuana, Dr. Crane observed, is the largest single 
cause of narcotics-related emergency room admissions in the 
U.S. Dr. Crane stressed the need for the U.S. and Canada to 
work vigorously together to safeguard our societies from the 
threat posed by illegal drug 
s. 
 
4.(C) Turning specifically to GoC's proposal to decriminalize 
possession of small amounts of marijuana (Bill C-38, now 
pending in the House of Commons) Dr. Crane noted that the 
problem with decriminalization is that, while we are trying 
to persuade our children to avoid marijuana, Canada's 
decriminalization plan sends the message that marijuana use 
is acceptable. For the U.S., Dr. Crane calmly stated, such a 
development on our northern border would necessitate stronger 
U.S. interdiction efforts, in order to protect American 
children. 
 
----------------- 
Canada's response 
----------------- 
 
5.(C) Department of Foreign Affairs and International Trade 
(DFAIT) - Ruth Archibald, Senior Coordinator, International 
Crime and Terrorism Division, and Terry Cormier, Director, 
International Crime and Terrorism Division, responded that 
Canada is in the process of renewing its national drug 
strategy. Canadian officials are concerned about the impact 
of illicit drugs on the health of every Canadian, Archibald 
noted. Health Canada will continue to provide leadership and 
coordination for Canada's drug strategy, as it has done in 
the past, but DFAIT, Justice Canada, and the Solicitor 
General's Department will also be involved in planning and 
executing Canada's response to narcotics. Archibald indicated 
that execution of what she termed as Canada's "renewed" drug 
strategy would proceed independently of the cannabis reform 
bill introduced in May in the House of Commons. 
 
6.(C) Archibald said Canada's renewed drug strategy will 
continue to emphasize demand reduction, i.e., public 
education, and will focus on the more vulnerable sectors of 
society in an effort to decrease the number of Canadians who 
try drugs. She said Canada has developed a fair amount of 
expertise, at the federal level, about demand reduction based 
on government programs to deter alcohol abuse and tobacco 
use. Other key components of the new drug strategy, Archibald 
said, will include training programs for law enforcement (one 
example: how to detect marijuana levels in drivers), and 
increased funding for collecting and analyzing drug use data. 
She expressed appreciation for Dr. Crane's visit, and said 
they are very interested in learning from our experience. In 
particular, Archibald indicated the Canadians would like 
further discussions with U.S. officials on how we test for 
drug use, how we track drug use among certain populations, 
and our methods for collecting and evaluating data to 
identify drug use trend 
s. (Note: Archibald and other Canadian officials will travel 
to Washington the week of July 14 to discuss Canada's drug 
policy, and particularly GoC's proposal to decriminalize 
marijuana, with members of Congress. End note.) 
 
7.(C) Health Canada - Dr. Crane met with Beth Pieterson, 
Director General; Cathy Airth, Director for Drug Strategy; 
Carol Bouchard, Director of the Office of Controlled 
Substances; Richard Viau, Director of the Drug Analysis 
Service; and Patricia Begin, Director for Research and 
Policy, at the offices of Health Canada. Pieterson led the 
discussion by making clear Canada would continue to approach 
drug abuse primarily as a health issue. She admitted that 
GoC's previous drug strategy suffered from inadequate funding 
and attention.  Pieterson said this was not the case now, 
that GoC is committed to providing funding for research, 
rehabilitation and, most importantly, counter-narcotics 
education and messaging. Pieterson said Health Canada is 
studying how best to get its 'don't do drugs' message across 
to Canada's youth, and is looking at the approaches followed 
by other countries to determine what has worked, and what 
hasn't. She commented that one aspect of Canada's strategy is 
to encourage parents to take a mor 
e active part in directing their children away from drug use. 
 
8.(C) Cathy Airth said the renewal of Canada's drug strategy 
had been recommended by the Auditor General of Canada, 
following a review of the federal government's past 
expenditures on drug abuse prevention. As a result of this 
review, she indicated the Canadian government plans to almost 
double the amount it spends annually on drug control.  Airth 
repeated that Canada's drug strategy would emphasize 
prevention, that they want to reach people before they begin 
using drugs. Dr. Crane noted it is important to emphasize 
both prevention of drug use and law enforcement,that there 
should be a balance. He pointed out that, according to recent 
U.N. drug reports, the U.S. is making progress in reducing 
the demand for illegal drugs by Americans. 
 
9.(C) Carole Bouchard, Director of the Office of Controlled 
Substances at Health Canada, then presented an update on the 
implementation of Canada's precursor chemical regulations. 
Phase I of the regulations, directed at the importing, 
exporting, production, and packaging of Class A precursor 
chemicals, took effect in January 2003. Phase II of the 
regulations, focusing on domestic transactions in precursor 
chemicals, went into effect July 7, 2003. Bouchard noted that 
under the regulations, the GoC has authority to inspect 
licensed chemical facilities if there is evidence diversions 
are taking place; however, compliance by Canada's drug 
importers and manufacturers remains voluntary. She indicated 
Health Canada hopes to obtain additional financial resources 
to carry out further inspections at production facilities. 
 
10.(C) Richard Viau, Director of Canada's Drug Analysis 
Service, took issue with U.S. concerns about the increased 
potency of marijuana grown in Canada. Viau said a lab at 
Health Canada regularly measures the potency of marijuana 
seized by law enforcement officers for use in criminal 
trials, and presented a detailed graph reflecting the potency 
of marijuana seized in recent years. Viau indicated the 
majority of the marijuana tested at Health Canada contains 
THC levels averaging 10%; they see very little marijuana 
exceeding a 20% THC level. He acknowledged Canadian growers 
are becoming smarter in terms of choosing the best species, 
methods of cultivation, and the optimal time for harvesting 
the plant. Dr. Crane said he would like to study Dr. Viau's 
data more closely. 
 
11.(C) Justice Canada - Dr. Crane met Paul Saint-Denis and 
Donald Piragoff, senior counsels in the Criminal Law Policy 
Section.  Piragoff stated the problem for GoC is that the 
current marijuana law is not respected. He said police 
officers and prosecutors refuse to pursue cases involving 
small amounts of marijuana, and marijuana users know this. 
Saint-Denis said that under the current law, only one of 
every two possession incidents results in a charge by the 
police (he noted that this statistic does not include the 
province of Quebec). The government believes, therefore, that 
decriminalizing the possession of small amounts of marijuana 
will free up law enforcement officers and prosecutors so they 
can devote more attention to large suppliers and grow 
operations. The government also believes the proposed 
marijuana law will be more fairly enforced in all areas of 
Canada, as under the present system non-white and rural 
Canadians are more likely than others to be prosecuted for 
marijuana possession. 
 
12.(C) Saint-Denis noted the percentage of persons using 
marijuana in Canada has increased each year for the past 10 
years. He said the government wants an enforcement mechanism 
and penalty that will work. Under the government's cannabis 
reform law, as it is now written, persons found in possession 
of up to 15 grams of marijuana will be given a ticket and 
required to pay a fine, similar to traffic or other health 
and safety violations. If the violator is a minor, parental 
notification will be required. Piragoff cited the example of 
Australia, where enforcement of the marijuana law increased 
significantly after it was revised to permit tickets and 
fines for persons possessing small amounts. Saint-Denis 
suggested that by notifying parents of marijuana violations, 
adults would be encouraged if not forced to take a more 
active role in educating their young. He said he expects C-38 
(the cannabis reform bill) to fully complete the 
parliamentary process before the end of the year. (Comment: 
Post believes Saint-Denis 
  and Piragoff were the principal drafters of C-38. End 
comment.) 
 
13.(C) Solicitor General Canada - Dr. Crane met with a large 
group of officials at the Department of the Solicitor 
General, including Christine Miles, Director General, 
Policing and Law Enforcement; Anita Dagenais, Acting Director 
of Hemispheric Cooperation; Policy Analyst Lyndon Murdock; 
and Superintendent Mike Gaudreau, Director of the Drug Branch 
of the Royal Canadian Mounted Police. Miles directed the 
presentation, which repeated Health Canada's message that 
Canada views its drug abuse problem primarily as a health 
issue, and that attention and resources should be focused on 
that aspect of the drug problem. She said law enforcement 
does play an essential role not only in supply reduction, but 
also in educating the Canadian public of the harm drugs can 
cause (citing the DARE program as an example of an 
educational program led by law enforcement). Miles noted 
proudly that the counter-narcotics budget for Canadian law 
enforcement will increase incrementally over the next five 
years. She admitted, however, th 
at there is much to be learned in the law enforcement area, 
for example, how to assess impaired driving caused by 
marijuana use. 
 
14.(C) Mills stated that Canada looks forward to assuming the 
chairmanship of CICAD (Inter-American Drug Abuse Control 
Commission) in Montreal in November, and welcomed 
opportunities to make the Multilateral Evaluation Mechanism 
stronger. Mills said the Office of Solicitor General is 
encouraged by the progress made in addressing Canada's 
precursor chemical diversion problem through the enactment of 
new regulations, and that Canada's pharmaceutical companies 
are cooperating.  She noted, however, that more needs to be 
done and that, at present, it is difficult to measure the 
success of the new regulations because there "just has not 
been enough time." (Comment: when asked specifically if RCMP 
has been able to initiate prosecutions or make arrests for 
any precursor chemical diversions since the first of this 
year, Gaudreau said no, there have been no arrests or 
prosecutions under the new regulations. End comment.) 
 
15.(C) Canadian grow operations were also discussed during 
this meeting. Gaudreau indicated the Royal Canadian Mounted 
Police (RCMP) is beginning to work with the Canadian 
Association of Chiefs of Police to develop a more coordinated 
approach to going after "grow ops". According to Policy 
Analyst Lyndon Murdock, this is the first time federal and 
provincial law enforcement have had a shared focus on grow 
ops. In the past, the RCMP often had to struggle with the 
attitudes of local law enforcement, which did not look on 
marijuana offenses as a priority. Gaudreau said the RCMP 
intends to utilize the additional resources and officers it 
will receive, as part of the renewed national drug strategy, 
to pursue the organized crime elements which operate grow 
houses. Gaudreau commented, however, that the RCMP might not 
actually receive funding for new operations until early 2004. 
(Comment: DEA Ottawa's RCMP sources have indicated that RCMP 
has decreased the number of its drug-dedicated units this 
year. End comment.) 
 
 
16.(C) It was noted that, under the government's cannabis 
reform bill, the maximum prison sentence for conducting a 
grow operation will increase from 7 to 14 years. When asked 
if mandatory minimum sentences had been considered by the 
government, Miles commented that Canada takes a different 
view of incarceration than the U.S. Miles said it is not the 
"Canadian way" to impose mandatory minimum sentences, as the 
purpose for incarcerating an offender is rehabilitation, not 
punishment. 
 
----------------------------------- 
A Different View on Parliament Hill 
----------------------------------- 
 
17.(C) Parliament Hill - During a lunch meeting on Parliament 
Hill, members of Parliament had a frank exchange of views 
with Dr. Crane, primarily on C-38. The members present at the 
meeting either have serious reservations about C-38, or are 
outright opponents of it. MP Dan McTeague, the leader of the 
Liberal opponents of C-38, presented a detailed critique of 
the bill. Several members expressed their concern that the 
House leadership will try to push the bill through, 
regardless of the possible consequences for members from more 
conservative ridings. The members also voiced concern about 
the negative impact decriminalization might have on U.S. - 
Canada relations, and expressed a desire for Dr. Crane and 
other U.S. officials to become involved in the marijuana 
debate. Senator Anne Cools raised the possibility of inviting 
a U.S. drug control official to testify about 
decriminalization at a hearing, and several of the House 
members present expressed interest in this idea. (Comment: 
The House of Commons is now i 
n recess and will not reconvene until September.  It is 
uncertain, particularly in light of Prime Minister Chretien's 
lame duck status, how hard the government intends to push 
C-38 when the House reconvenes. But the bill cannot be 
declared dead yet. End comment.) 
 
------------------------- 
Navigating the Road Ahead 
------------------------- 
 
18.(C) Dr. Crane's tour d'horizon among Canadian government 
officials was informative and useful.  He made clear 
throughout the day that the USG is concerned about the flow 
into the U.S. of Canadian-produced marijuana and diverted 
precursor chemicals, and highlighted that the U.S. must, and 
will, act to stem that flow - for the sake of our children 
and our future. His Canadian interlocutors echoed their 
concerns about the impact that drug abuse, whether of 
marijuana, cocaine, heroin, or alcohol and tobacco, has on 
Canadian children and society at large. However, the Canadian 
officials also emphasized that they intend to address their 
drug demand and supply issues in a way that conforms to their 
style of problem solving. They made it clear that while they 
will listen to U.S. experts and do want to learn from our 
experiences, they will not be lectured to, or forced to take 
measures (including abandoning Canadian initiatives) because 
Washington says so. In this atmosphere, post believes Crane's 
presentations str 
uck the right balance between learning and teaching. 
Undertaking research studies is all well and good; however, 
post questions the utility of waiting a year or more to 
complete an academic analysis of a problem when the harmful 
effects of that problem are being experienced now. We suggest 
Canada does not see that the wolf is at the door. 
 
19.(C) We clearly have an uphill battle in front of us. 
Though post thought (perhaps wishfully) that the GoC's 
marijuana decriminalization bill had died when the House 
recessed in late June, the bill may well be revived in the 
fall as part of Prime Minister Chretien's final push for a 
legacy. The self-selected Liberal Party back-benchers who met 
with Dr. Crane are clearly concerned their Party's leadership 
may choose to force C-38 through the House. While Dr. Crane 
said, loudly and clearly, that the U.S. respects Canada's 
right to make its own legislative choices, the pleading of 
these MPs for Washington intervention was startling.  They 
obviously feel powerless to oppose their leadership. This 
leads us to wonder whether others, even more influential in 
the Party structure, would pay heed to their constituents if 
the Canadian public at large voices opposition to the 
government's decriminalization plan. 
 
20.(C) The Canadian approach to the precursor chemical 
diversion problem may be just as worrisome, albeit less 
openly debated. Keeping in mind that U.S. chemical diversion 
regulations and procedures took years to develop and refine, 
we appreciate that 6 months of a new regime is too short a 
time to prove the success of Canada's regulations. We regret, 
however, that Canadian authorities have declined offers of 
assistance from U.S. experts on the development of such 
regulations, a decision that could cost the Canadians many 
man-years of valuable lessons learned. 
 
21.(C) Yes, the Canadians will do it their way and we hope 
they will succeed. Perhaps the best way we can help is to 
remain consistent in our message:  we stand ready to help, 
but in the end the U.S. government will do what it must to 
stem the flow of drugs that are produced in or transit Canada 
from crossing the U.S. border. 
CELLUCCI