The Seattle Times

opinion@seatimes.com

http://www.seattletimes.com/

By Susan Gilmore Seattle Times staff reporter

U.S. CUSTOMS BLITZES BORDER IN DRUG HUNT (Ed. note: As always, marijuana equals "drugs," while cocaine is being smuggled north.)

BLAINE, Whatcom County - There was little reason to notice an elderly Canadian couple crossing the border into Lynden last month.

But when their car was pulled over by U.S. Customs workers as part of a drug-enforcement "block blitz," 20 pounds of high-grade Canadian-grown marijuana was found in their trunk.

Officials weren’t entirely surprised. Since U.S. Customs initiated its tough new border emphasis in December, they’ve made dozens of marijuana busts - many from unlikely suspects like the elderly couple. (Ed. note: In the next paragraph it turns out that the "dozens" are two and five twelfths.)

Along with the busts have come longer lines of cars at the border - waits that on weekends can stretch for two hours at the Peace Arch crossing in Blaine.

Even on a weekday morning this week, the line was 45 minutes long, with only two of the station’s seven lanes open. (Ed. note: This is deliberate harassment of law abiding citizens in pursuit of a failed policy.)

He said the new drug emphasis, called the Customs’ "brass ring" policy, stems from the fact that narcotics enforcement has become the federal agency’s top priority.

Since January, there have been 29 arrests at the border, said Sgt. Steve DeFries, with the Northwest Regional Drug Task Force, which is run through the Whatcom County Sheriff’s Office. (Ed. note: Only 29 arrests out of tens of thousands of people stopped, and they are not having a significant impact on the supply.)

DeFries said that when he took over the drug task force in 1994 he rarely got a referral from Customs. "Now it’s not unusual to get three to five a week," he said. "Luckily for us most of the (marijuana) is destined for Southern California."

What’s triggering the increase, say police and U.S. Customs officials, is the popularity of B.C.-grown marijuana, which has a high level of THC, the active ingredient in marijuana.

DeFries said a pound of the marijuana can be purchased in Canada for as little as $1,500 in U.S. funds, but can sell for $3,500 in Seattle and $6,000 by the time it gets to Southern California.
(Ed. note: The economics of contraband -- The incentive grows at least in proportion to the restrictions.)

To combat drug trafficking, Customs is using more drug-sniffing dogs, is pulling more cars over for inspections, and is staging the blitzes in which every car - for a short period of time - is pulled over.

Where once officials could spot a suspicious car fairly easily, they say that’s no longer the case.

Among others arrested recently was a couple with young children in the back seat of their car, a duffel bag full of marijuana between them.

"I started in the late 1970s," said Jay Brandt, a Customs official at the Blaine truck crossing. "We knew who we were looking for in narcotics enforcement. We can’t do it any more." (Ed. note: Again, everyone is a suspect.)

He also said people are not even trying to hide the contraband, assuming they’ll pass through the border unchecked.

Brandt said that’s one reason why the lines are so slow - workers have to take time to inspect the cars they pull over.

"We have to dedicate more resources to the secondary inspection process," he said, "but I hesitate to say we’re catching it all." He said less than 2 percent of the 10,000 cars that pass through the Peace Arch each day are pulled over.

Drivers who are apprehended risk having their cars seized. To get around that, they often drive rented or leased cars, DeFries said.

"They’re not stupid," DeFries said. "They know if they drive their fancy Porsche, they’ll lose it, so they don’t drive it. They drive a throw-away car. It’s the price of doing business; they lose the junker."

Those arrested are generally people hired to bring drugs across the border, he said.

In the case of the elderly couple, he said, a police report showed they planned to park their car at a shopping center in Bellingham and that when they returned to it an hour later the marijuana would be gone.

He said one problem in slowing the drug traffic is that the penalty is so small. "The organization that controls marijuana growing knows the law only allows 90 days for a marijuana possession case," DeFries said. "It’s just the cost of doing business. Their couriers don’t mean anything, they’re expendible." (Ed. note: This is what Newt Gingrich wants to punish with life in prison for the first offence and death for the second. How there would be a second, he does not explain.)

Certainly it’s not just the drug inspections that are slowing traffic.

While the depressed Canadian dollar almost stopped southbound border traffic from Canadians, that’s picked up in recent weeks, Customs officials say.

With gas selling for 96 cents a gallon in Blaine, some cross just to fill their tanks.

Lew Moore, aide to U.S. Rep. Jack Metcalf, who represents the border community in Whatcom County, said he’s been meeting with B.C. officials recently to discuss the border problems. In fact, at a meeting last week the B.C. official was late - held up at the border.

In December, seven drug users died in the Vancouver area after ingesting unusually potent cocaine brought in from the U.S. (Ed. note: And the US is complaining about marijuana going South!)

As for the long lines on the southbound border, little relief is expected any time soon. But officials do offer tips:

- -- Take a different crossing from Canada, where lines invariably are shorter. They include the truck crossing at Blaine, the crossing at Lynden or the crossing at Sumas, all in Whatcom County.

- -- Timing is the key. Generally, the worst traffic is between 11 a.m. and 4 p.m. weekdays and 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. on weekends. This week was particularly bad because of spring vacations in B.C.

- -- Motorists who cross the border frequently can apply for a $25 PACE sticker, which allows them to use a special lane. But getting a sticker requires a background check and can take up to six months for processing.

Bob Burden, a tourist from England, was waiting in a long line Tuesday, anxious about getting to Seattle-Tacoma International Airport in time to catch his plane home. "I’d gladly pay $25 to get there now," he said.