LAX SENTENCES BLAMED FOR PROLIFERATION OF GROW-OPS

No Minimum Penalty

It was the gunshots heard from the basement that first brought police
in York Region, just north of Toronto, to the home of a
Vietnamese-born restaurant worker three years ago.

But it was the covered windows, extra ventilation ducts and melted
snow surrounding the building that persuaded them to stay.

When the man, who would later be convicted of "producing a controlled
substance," answered his door, police could smell the odour of the
marijuana and spotted small plants in his hallway.

His grow operation, installed in the home's basement, consisted of 481
plants fed by 46 light sockets plugged into a hydro bypass that had
milked Markham Hydro of $4,039.

The man, who escaped Vietnam as a refugee at the age of 25 before
arriving in Toronto, pleaded guilty to operating a grow-op and
stealing electricity.

The judge described him during sentencing as "being in the same
category of offenders that we often see on these drug-related charges:
Asian, male, little or no criminal record, pleading guilty at an early
opportunity ... "

And she handed down a conditional sentence (just under two years of
house arrest), putting him in another category of Ontario grow-op
offender: the two-thirds who are convicted but never see the inside of
a jail.

According to a report produced in 2003 by the Ontario Association of
Chiefs of Police, only a third of all Ontario grow-op convictions
between January, 2000, and June, 2003 -- 777 people -- went to jail,
with the rest receiving conditional sentences, probation or fines.
Those who were incarcerated were free after an average of 145 days.

That is compared to sentences in the United States, which are
typically between 33 and 87 months in a federal institution, the
report adds.

It is Canada's low sentences that police and criminologists say drive
the proliferation of grow-ops such as that at the centre of Thursday's
shootout in Alberta, which left four Mounties dead.

"There is virtually no sentencing, and organized crime groups have
realized that and said, 'Let's take advantage of this,' " said
Detective Staff Sergeant Rick Barnum of the Ontario Provincial
Police's Drug Enforcement Section.

Canada's Controlled Drug and Substances Act stipulates no minimum
sentence for running a grow-op and sets a maximum of seven years.

Sentences are based on a cocktail of factors, including the number of
plants, level of sophistication, an established link to organized
crime and whether the operation's location poses a risk to the
surrounding community.

But missing from the equation, Prof. Plecas argues, is deterrence.

"It's basic psychology," said Prof. Plecas, who has just completed a
seven-year study of the grow-op phenomenon, which he says is driven by
"the profit that's associated to growth and the corresponding lack of
consequence."

He said it is a fear among judges of having their decisions appealed
that produces low sentences.

But lawyer Joseph Neuberger, whose Toronto firm, Neuberger Rose,
enjoys a substantial drug practice, says stiffer sentences are not the
solution.

"I don't think people who are criminal are deterred by criminal
penalties," he said.

Mr. Neuberger also said increased sentences may enhance the
danger.

"If somebody is facing a life sentence on an offence, they are more
likely to act desperate and pull a gun and try and kill somebody."