STRANGE VICTORIES IN DRUG WAR

It doesn't seem like much of a victory, pushing big-time marijuana grow ops
out of the Lower Mainland and onto Vancouver Island. Likewise the news that
gangs are closing grow operations and opening up labs to make chemical
drugs like Ecstasy doesn't seem particularly positive. And it's hard to
celebrate more turf wars, violent rip-offs and home invasions within the
drug world as a sign of progress.

But B.C.'s Organized Crime Agency reported this week that all three
developments show that their efforts are working. The new agency says it
has targeted Asian gangs and bikers - mostly the Hell's Angels - and taken
particular aim at the huge marijuana industry.

How huge? The crime agency says there are 15,000 to 20,000 grow operations
in B.C.

There are only about one million houses and apartment buildings. That
means that anytime you can see up and down a long block, the statistics say
you're looking at someone's marijuana business.

And the agency puts the value of the trade - the wholesale value - at $6
billion. That's more than three times what we spent for alcohol last year,
more than all the income taxes levied by the province and $1,500 for every
person in B.C.

That suggests some realities.

The first is that criminal organizations are going to be attracted. That's
a huge amount of money floating around an unregulated marketplace. The
crime unit offers little evidence to debunk the belief that most grow
operations are simply another form of small, illegal business, someone
earning a modest living with some grow lights in a spare room. But the
attraction for organized crime groups is obvious.

The second is that the marijuana industry is deeply entrenched in the
economy and widely accepted. It's tough to have a $6-billion industry
without public tolerance.

And the third is that this is probably a losing battle.

By the agency's count, at least one out of every $20 generated by the B.C.
economy is being made in the marijuana industry. That's $6 billion a year
that's being spent in communities. Yank that much money out of circulation
and you give the economy a ferocious whack.

And while enforcement is having an effect, it doesn't appear to be having a
lasting impact on crime. The agency has only charged 112 people since its
inception, although it has been targeting key players.

And as the agency notes, much of the success has been in making it tougher
for people to be in the marijuana business. They've moved out of Vancouver
with grow operations, had to develop riskier transit routes to the
U.S. and started fighting with each other more. And the organized gangs
have switched from growing pot to manufacturing methamphetamine and Ecstasy.

It's not an easy problem. The agency is chaired by Doug Richardson, the
highly respected former Victoria police chief. He says marijuana
production is one part of a spectrum of activities that support organized
crime.

And he says the agency, which gets about $9.8 million from the province and
loaned officers from the RCMP, desperately needs more money if it's going
to keep up with criminal activities.

Police need the organized crime agency, which can operate across
jurisdictions, as criminal gangs do, and bring the same focus to fighting
organized crime that serious criminals devote to expanding their
activities. The challenge is to come up with an approach that ensures that
the focus is on stopping activities that pose the greatest threat to public
safety, rather than simply changing the nature of crime in B.C.