GRITS SINK TOUGH LINE ON GROW-OPS

OTTAWA -- A B.C. push for tougher laws against marijuana-growing operations
was torpedoed at the weekend Liberal policy convention by young activists
who concluded the idea had an excessively Conservative bent.

The policy proposal called for changes to federal legislation now before
Parliament that will decriminalize possession of small amounts of pot but
double maximum penalties for major growing operations from seven to 14
years. The B.C. initiative, from Surrey -- where growing operations are a
significant safety and crime issue -- proposed a minimum two-year jail term
for major operators.

But Liberals at a policy workshop Saturday, who had to select a single
resolution to send to all delegates for a vote, decided by a narrow margin
not to send the grow-op initiative.

Ginny Hasselfield, the growing-operation resolution's sponsor, said the
resolution's failure to make it to the floor doesn't represent a defeat. "I
believe the message has been heard and that Parliament will respond,"
Hasselfield, president of the South Surrey-White Rock-Cloverdale riding,
said Sunday.

But Justice Minister Irwin dismissed the B.C. idea. "I have come to the
conclusion that minimum sentences serve neither as a deterrent nor as an
effective means of combating ... grow-ops."