P.E.I. A POT-GROWER'S HAVEN: U.S. WEEKLY

Prince Edward Island's Anne isn't the only thing that's green,
according to an article in a Boston alternative newspaper.

Writer Alan Earls charges that "Pot Edward Island" is a haven for dope
growers and that inexpensive electricity from Quebec fuels its grow-ops.

"Canada's most picturesque province is surprisingly also the fertile
center of an underground marijuana explosion," opines the sub-head for
the feature-length piece.

In the weekly Boston Phoenix, Earls writes that beyond the "Pollyanna
disposition" of Anne of Green Gables, "islanders have discovered
another way to smile through the summer and avoid the blues during the
bleak local winters."

As for grow-ops fuelled with cheap power from Quebec, Earls claims
they're responsible for the 250 plants police so far seized this year
(up from 200 in 2007). The only problem is that P.E.I. gets most of
its power from New Brunswick.

Neither Earls nor Phoenix editor Lance Gould responded to requests for
an interview.

Denis Morin, an RCMP spokesman who was quoted in Earl's article, said
yesterday he was surprised the writer put his own spin on the story.

"Two hundred plants in 2007? I would say it's quite minor in the scale
of things for P.E.I. and Canada," Morin said. "I'm sure in Boston,
they'd be glad to have a problem like this."

Earls' article ends on a high note, concluding: "One thing is clear:
P.E.I. pot is no longer small potatoes."