THE MARIJUANA 'MONEY MACHINE'

Report Points To Crime Groups Co-operating To Increase Profits

VANCOUVER -- B.C.'s marijuana industry has become so lucrative that
organized crime groups are using its profits to bankroll a variety of other
crimes, according to an internal RCMP report obtained by The Vancouver Sun.

"Information has surfaced . . . which clearly demonstrates that
marijuana-grow operations are funding other serious forms of criminal
activities," the report states.

Those crimes include weapons and explosives trafficking, cocaine smuggling
and stock-market fraud, the report states.

"Marijuana grow-ops have become their money machine," Insp. Paul Nadeau,
head of the Greater Vancouver Drug Section, said in an interview.

The RCMP report states that the pot trade has become so large that some
gangs now "solely perform money-laundering activities" and have no role in
growing, smuggling or selling the drug.

The 2004 report, obtained through the Access to Information Act, was
produced by the RCMP's B.C. criminal analysis section. It refers to a
threat assessment the RCMP conducted last year that identified 81 active
gangs in B.C.

The report details how different groups have grown to dominate certain
sectors of the trade. Vietnamese gangs, for example, largely grow the drug.

"Vietnamese marijuana growers improved on previously established methods of
producing a marijuana crop, using innovation and new technology," the
report states. "They applied a higher work ethic, which has resulted in
increasing the profitability of growing marijuana."

Indo-Canadian gang members are primarily involved in smuggling marijuana
into the United States, often in cargo trucks.

And members of the Hells Angels, the report says, help run the show --
overseeing networks of growers and coordinating smuggling runs to the U.S.

"Hells Angels assert a very strong and stable presence in the
grow-operation industry," it states.

While many groups are involved in pot, the report says they often work
together. "The quest for profit is the single most important motivation and
differing cultures, languages and heritage do not prevent any of the groups
from doing business with each other."

But those relationships sometimes break down. "Over the last several years
there has been a tremendous increase in the violence associated to money
owed for failed drug transactions, drug debts, and inter-gang rivalry as it
relates to the marijuana industry," it states.

The report says the value of B.C.'s marijuana trade is "modestly" estimated
at $7.5 billion annually.