PUSH FOR TOUGHER LAW ON GROW-OPS FAILS TO MAKE VOTE

OTTAWA - A B.C. push for tougher laws against marijuana grow
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 grow operations from
seven to 14 years.

The B.C. resolution suggested grow-ops have emerged as a significant
safety and crime issue and proposed a minimum two-year federal jail
term for major operators. But Liberals at a policy workshop on
Saturday, who had to select a single resolution to send to all
delegates for a vote, decided by a narrow margin to send a bill
advocating decriminalization of the sex trade.

Ginny Hasselfield, sponsor of the grow-op resolution, said its failure
to make it to the floor is not a defeat. "I believe the message has
been heard and that Parliament will respond," Ms. Hasselfield,
president of the South Surrey-White Rock-Cloverdale riding, said yesterday.

But Justice Minister Irwin Cotler 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 combatting, in this instance,
grow-ops," he said.