BC MARIJUANA MAY ONLY BE SECOND RATE

FERNIE - Fernie RCMP staff Sgt. Steve Robertson has sufficient doubt in
last month's Rolling Stone magazine article which stated Fernie lives in a
hallucinogenic haze.

"I didn't find their article well researched at all," Robertson said. "I
mean obviously there's a lot of grass around, but there's no more pot
available here than anywhere else in the Kootenays.

In 2000, Fernie RCMP had 65 narcotic related charges ranged from minor grow
operations to warnings. "Last year we took down four grow operations and
they were really quite small," the sergeant said. "Twenty to 40 plants or so.

"So we certainly have small grow operations in the area but the Elk
Valley/East Kootenay does not have very good growing conditions or the
proper soil like the Okanagan or the West Kootenays.

The last big bust Fernie RCMP can remember was back in 1997 when they took
down a grow operation in Morrissey of 140 or more plants. Last year the
biggest bust was on Dicken Road where they destroyed between 40 and 50 plants.

BC: A Marijuana Mecca

Despite the fact pot is pretty scarce in Fernie, British Columbia is
becoming a mecca for marijuana all over the world, boasting some of the
best quality anywhere. In fact, it's even been called British Columbia's
second largest cash crop.

"The attention BC is getting in regards to marijuana does pose a concern to
the RCMP across the province as well as Canada Customs and city police
forces," Robertson said. "But BC has had a reputation for years for being
able to produce all kinds of different strains of marijuana."

Fondly nicknamed "BC Bud," this strain of marijuana is making the big bucks
in the drug industry hauling in between 2.8 billion and 3.5 billion illegal
dollars a year.

BC pot, which has been almost growth perfected through indoor grow
operations, is twice as potent as the most common Colombian and Mexican
product.

According to Cpl. Scott Rintoul of the RCMP E-Division's Drug Awareness
Service in Vancouver on average, his unit investigates around 6,000 grow
operations a year province wide, but say there could be as many as 20,000
throughout BC. "It's very disturbing," he says. "And it puts everyone at risk."

"High" content

Rintoul says a pound of dried BC Bud has a tetrahydrocannanbinol (THC)
content of between 12 per cent and 15 per cent and can sellfor about $3,000
a pound American. As a comparison, marijuanafrom Mexico has a THC content
of only about five percent and sells for much, much less.

"The North American market is demanding the best marijuana possible,"
Rintoul said from his Vancouver office. "And right now the best is that
grown indoors and grown in true active hydroponics operations."

Rintoul says there is a big difference between marijuana grown in the great
outdoors and marijuana grown hydroponically. "Outdoors, you're limited as
to what the quality will be, Rintoul explained. "You can't control
variables like weather, wind, insects etc. Indoors you can and you can even
enhance the growing.

Rip-offs

Despite this, Rintoul, who has been in the RCMP Drug Awareness Service
since 1998 says that even though BC Bud is supposed to the best there is,
smokers throughout British Columbia are actually getting ripped off.

Most of BC's bud is sold to our neighbours in the south, doubling the cash.

"People say the marijuana on BC streets is high grade stuff, but that's not
an accurate statement," he said. "Most of the pot in BC is Grade B pot -
the crappy stuff. It's the outdoor or poorly graded indoor stuff.

"Why sell it for $3,000 Canadian when you can get $3,000 American for it?"

But Rintoul says that money does not come back to Canada. Those who bought
the tonnes of pot from their Canadian suppliers trade it for cocaine, guns
and other chemical drugs like ecstasy. "When the growers say they're
putting money back into the economy, maybe they are," he said. "Maybe they
did buy a car in Fernie from pot profits. But what about the person they
sold the pot to? They're now trading it and bringing back the drugs that
could kill you in a single dose. "It's not a good tradeoff."