RCMP DEFENDS CONTROVERSIAL COST OF STUDY IN MARIJUANA GROW OPERATIONS

The RCMP is defending its decision to spend $110,000 on a high-profile
study that warned of the increasing dangers of marijuana grow-ops in
British Columbia and was headed by a criminologist with extensive links to
police forces in North America.

Inspector Paul Nadeau said the funds were a good use of RCMP resources. "We
just wanted the facts," said Insp. Nadeau.

Mr. Plecas, a criminologist at the University College of the Fraser Valley,
updated his previous study, also commissioned by the RCMP, and examined
police and prosecution statistics about marijuana cultivation in British
Columbia from 1997 to 2003.

The two studies cost a total of $250,000. The widely reported update,
released this month, described marijuana grow-ops as a growing "risk to
public safety," and called for more criminal justice resources to deal with
the issue, as well as stiffer jail sentences.