B.C. JUDGE DESERVES PRAISE FOR SPEAKING OUT ABOUT GROW-OPS

To no one's great surprise, municipal politicians meeting in Victoria
this week have been busy asking senior government for new tools to
help them combat the rampant drug crime in this province.

It is clear from what they are saying that the trafficking in such
illegal drugs as crystal meth, cocaine and marijuana is far from
being simply a big-city scourge. Communities from all over B.C. have
reported problems.

Many of the local councillors have expressed frustration at the
apparent lack of consequences faced by those engaging in drug crime
in B.C. -- and the soft sentences meted out by our courts.

These same councillors, however, will be heartened to know that there
is at least one B.C. judge who clearly believes a clampdown is in order.

B.C. Supreme Court Justice Sherman Hood has stated what police have
been saying for years -- sentences for those involved in marijuana
grow-ops are "notorious" for being ineffective.

In sentencing a repeat offender in Port Alberni to two and a half
years in jail, Hood said the high-profit, low-risk grow-op industry
posed a serious danger to local communities. Yet the sentences for
those convicted had not reflected the gravity of the offences,
amounting to "little more than a slap on the wrist."

The judge said the current range of sentences has not "protected the
public or, indeed, the integrity of the administration of justice."

We could not have said it better ourselves.