On January 8th, 1997, Melinda Holland-Arana was thoroughly groped by an older woman, and then led off to a room to be stripped by two others, all against her will. This abuse was authorized by Canadian Government policy. The ticket for admission to Melinda's personal horror show was nothing more than a business card from Hemp Mercantile, a Washington-based hemp store. By Dan Loehndorf

    Melinda and her two friends, Alexa Marsh and Andrea Johnson, had been attempting to cross from the States into Canada, on their way to see a Smashing Pumpkins concert, when the border guard became confused by their identification.
    Alexa explained, "He asked if we were from Oregon, because we had Oregon licence plates, and we said, `No, we're from Washington'"
    The small inconsistency between their plates and their stated place of origin was enough for the border guard to launch an investigation into the identities of the women in the car. It wasn't enough for Melinda, who was driving, to explain that they were students, two of them from Pacific Lutheran University in Washington, and that the car was registered in Melinda's home state of Oregon.
    The identities of the women were soon confirmed: they were who they said they were, and they were from where they claimed to be from. But what would seem like a testimony to Melinda's honesty and good character, was to the border guards an indication that she was attempting to cross the border with some kind of contraband.
    Don't try and understand the reasoning behind the decisions of these officers - it takes years of government training to identify a hardened criminal behind the guise of an unassuming young university student. Besides, this 'Melinda' had already tried to trick them about where she lived. It didn't take a criminal genius to figure out that she was probably smuggling soviet fighter jets in the trunk of her car.

Which Came First?
    "The customs officers came back out," remembers Alexa, "and said 'ladies, it looks like we have reasonable grounds to search your vehicle.'"
    But first Melinda and her friends were to be personally searched. Melinda recounts, "they made me put my hands against the wall and spread my legs and they completely searched me. They didn't leave a single part of my body untouched. And they were pushing on my breasts... they were pushing in on my breasts and everything." The officers found nothing.
Then they asked Melinda to empty her wallet for them, and that was when they found the "contraband": a Hemp Mercantile business card. Melinda's mother was later enraged to discover that a business card was grounds for a search of the vehicle. She telephoned the officer in charge who claimed, incorrectly, that "...well, they sell pot in those stores."
    Obviously adept at tying temporal pretzels, the officer claimed that it was the business card which gave them reasonable grounds to search the vehicle. Yet he also told Melinda's mother on the telephone that he had found the business card in the glove-box of the car. And didn't they tell the three women that the car was going to be searched before they even found the card? Which came first, the search or the reason for it?

Customs Officers Commit Vandalism
    Alexa recounts how furiously the customs cops tore apart Melinda's car after finding the business card, like they had committed a crime to be punished by vandalism. "They picked apart stuff and trashed the whole car. Then they said, Ôwe found a pipe and fourteen screens in the car. That's paraphernalia.' But the pipe didn't even have a bowl on it." According to Melinda and Alexa, they didn't even know that the broken old pipe was in the car.
    If Melinda was a soviet spy for confusing the officers about where she lived, then she had committed some form of treason for having a broken, bowlless pipe in the car. The three women were read their rights and incarcerated in a holding cell. While Alexa and Andrea were allowed to remain in a cell together, Melinda was isolated and prepared for a strip search.
    "I could hear Melinda in the next cell," Alexa says, "The cop was telling her that if she had anything on her she might as well give it to them now." Alexa's voice trembles as she tells what happened next, "Then they made her take off all of her clothes, one by one."

Search and Sleazure
    Melinda remembers the incident all too well. "I was in a room by myself and there were no windows, or even a window on the door. They told me to read this sign. It was about my rights while being searched. I sat down and I didn't move. I just sat there with my hands on my knees. I didn't want to put them in my pockets, because that might be cause to think I had something on me."
    They made Melinda read the sign aloud three times. Melinda sat down, and two female officers advanced on her and proceeded to strip search. They found nothing.
    "Afterwards I was just mad... I couldn't figure out why I had to be strip-searched. They should have been able to feel something on my body when they searched earlier. They didn't make me go to the bathroom to see if there was something inside of me." Only Melinda was singled out for a strip search, as her friends weren't searched.
    If the officers truly found the Hemp Mercantile business card in the glove box of the car, then what singled out Melinda for a strip search? If a strip search was warranted for some other reason, then why wasn't it warranted for all three of the women? If the officers thought Melinda was hiding something that couldn't be found by a conventional search, then why didn't they do an internal search?

Questions without Answers
    I have spoken to the chief customs officer and the Canada Customs Public Relations office. There was much stonewalling by both customs authorities, although I did get an interesting admission - by way of denial - from the public relations officer, Merilin Coupis.
    Ms Coupis contended that she was restricted from speaking about the case because of privacy issues, so I spoke in generalities with her. She admitted to me that unless certain indicators are present, there is no grounds for searching a vehicle, and that people cannot even be held at the border for more than 5 or 10 minutes before they have been legally "detained" and must be read their rights to be held longer.
    When I asked Ms Coupis whether a hemp card was considered an indicator, and if so, what kind, she said, "That's a good question. I'm not going to answer that right now."
    Many questions remain unanswered after Melinda's aborted trip to Canada, "the true North strong and free." Where strength consists of ganging up on and stripping young women of their clothes without just cause. Where freedom is a room without windows, and a locked door.