POLICE NET A RECORD HAUL OF 19,000 MARIJUANA PLANTS

VANCOUVER ISLAND - Vancouver Island police say getting high is an
effective way to find pot plants.

Over nine days, police on the Island found 19,000 marijuana plants by
using Canadian military pilots to fly officers in to about 350 "remote
and challenging locations" where pot was being grown on Crown land,
said the RCMP's Vancouver Island district spokesman Cpl. Greg Cox.

The summer marijuana eradication program wrapped up this week. It's
the eighth year for the annual project.

"To be the best of my knowledge, this is the largest haul," said Cox.
"I think it's a combination of things," Cox said. "The weather was
very co-operative with us this year, which made it a little bit easier
for the project to be done. Marijuana production -- and I don't mean
this to be a pun -- is a growing problem."

Critics call the police's summer eradication program a public
relations exercise and ineffective use of taxpayer dollars.