LEGALIZING POT ONLY ANSWER TO NIGHTMARE

More and more, Canada's pot prohibition is revealed as a public policy
disaster and a law enforcement nightmare.

The latest report -- Marihuana Growing Operations in B.C. Revisited (the
authors use the legal spelling for pot) -- reinforces the conclusions
reached last year by Fraser Institute senior scholar Stephen Easton.

The economist from Simon Fraser University said pot production in B.C. and
Canada is too pervasive to be controlled by the police and courts.

Easton said it was time to legalize it. This newest study underscores that
change as necessary. The damage caused by prohibition is growing and the
pernicious black market it spawns is expanding, eroding confidence in
police and respect for the courts.

Pot production in the last seven years has more than tripled -- from an
estimated 19,727 kilograms in 1997 to 79,817 kilos in 2003.

I called Easton about the latest numbers. He estimated that based on the
new figures, wholesale marijuana was worth about $2.2 billion to the B.C.
economy in 2003 -- $7.7 billion retail if consumers pay top retail price.
That's larger than the province's legitimate agricultural sector.

Across the country, Easton thought the industry was worth $5.7 billion
wholesale and $19.5 billion if high-end retail pricing is assumed.

That's about the size of the cattle industry ($5.2 billion) or B.C.'s pulp
and paper sector ($5.6 billion).

Easton said because the price of pot has dropped, the value hasn't changed
much since his study even though there are more grow-ops producing more
product.

Police Changing Behaviour

"It hasn't grown as much as you would have thought," he said. "But here's
the kicker -- the police are clearly changing their behaviour in that they
are not responding to as many calls as they did before.

"The police have obviously reached an accommodation in their own mind. They
have said, 'Look, we could spend all our time on this and we could give up
the kidnapping beat and quit investigating break-and-enters, you know, we
could give up a lot and still not get to the end of these.' So they have
prioritized and in a way that is very unfair."

Last year, more than 25,000 growing operations came to police attention but
they investigated fewer than 17,000 and only about half of those were
prosecuted.

The law is being capriciously enforced -- more than half the growing
operations police raided over the last seven years resulted in seizures but
no charges. Police are charging people in fewer and fewer cases and seem to
be more and more reluctant to act at all.

Prosecutors and the judiciary also look like they are throwing up their hands.

Easton agreed: "The courts have said: 'We don't care.'"

Large numbers of these cases were dealt with via stays of proceedings and
conditional-sentence-or-probation plea bargains.

Nearly half ended in conditional sentences, up from the roughly one in 10
who received such a penalty in 1997.

Only one in 10 of the 3,364 convicted in 2003 were imprisoned and on
average they were jailed for less than five months. That's about half the
ratio of those jailed in 1997.

"One can see how you could easily slouch into legalization," Easton said.
"You just slump into it in some sense. And that may ultimately be the most
graceful way it could happen."

Consider that half of those convicted in B.C. would have been jailed for
five years or more under sentencing guidelines in Washington state. Fully
77 per cent of those convicted would have served at least three months in
prison in the U.S.

The study authors -- Darryl Plecas, Aili Malm and Bryan Kinney, of the
University College of the Fraser Valley -- observe that maybe that's why
Washington state has fewer grow-ops.

The law in B.C. is no longer a risk to growers, it is an operating cost. I
believe it's time to admit prohibition is a failure. Taxpayers must deal
with the problems of the illicit pot industry but receive no benefit and,
as long as it's underground, we have no ability to regulate it.

Decriminalization, which is Ottawa's strategy, is a halfway house that
makes users feel more relaxed but does nothing to eliminate the black
market and its attendant horrors.

Stiffer sentences and more jail time are not a realistic answer, even
though the justice and public safety ministers want them. There are far too
many people involved.

Possibly 150,000 Growers

In 2003, police investigated more than 15,000 individuals -- mainly men in
their 30s. If we assume they got one in 10 grow-ops -- a generous
assumption given the information here, that means there are possibly
150,000 people growing across B.C.

And, as Easton emphasized -- with the kind of profit pot promises -- there
is a lineup of people wanting to get into this game.

In the face of such an obvious failure, I think it's time to legalize
marijuana.

Ian Mulgrew is a Vancouver Sun columnist.