Today’s New York Times raises the spectre of a bloodbath coming to a city near you. That’s right, our own sleepy burg could soon be the host to good old fashioned drug violence:

In British Columbia, a once-quiet province in a country that has long enjoyed a low crime rate, the murder rate has soared in the past two years, Canadian officials say, because of killings linked to warring drug gangs. Now law enforcement officials [in Seattle] fear the violence will migrate south. Mr. Winchell likened Seattle, with its currently low crime rate, to “Miami before the drug wars” because of what he said was an impending threat of drug-related violence [nyt]

Yes. Just like Miami, except that the drug of concern is the fabled B.C. Bud, the drug lords are Canadian, and the couriers employ kayak trips and dayhikes (a nice Northwest touch, no?) to transport their wares across the border.

We apologize for not treating the impending drug war (30-year timeline [#]) with appropriate gravitas. But in all fairness, we don’t take Seattle Hempfest seriously either.

Accuse us of terminal mellowness. Just blame it on I-75.