U.S. PAPER PAINTS P.E.I. AS MARIJUANA PARADISE

Prince Edward Island's Anne isn't the only thing that's green,
according to a new 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 the
island's grow-ops.

Instead of the bucolic island of golf courses, white sand beaches and
red clay roads, Mr. Earls seemingly uncovers a gritty rural backwoods
full of hopped-up criminals.

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

To back up his contentious statement that P.E.I. is a pot-head's
hideaway, Mr. Earls cites a 2008 government survey that nearly half of
the province's high school and middle school students use drugs.

The writer also notes that so far in 2008 the RCMP have seized 2,608
grams of marijuana, almost double the amount in 2007.

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

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

Denis Morin, an RCMP spokesman who was quoted in Mr. Earl's article,
said yesterday the fact that the writer decided to put his own spin on
the story surprised him.

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