TODAY'S WEED HARDLY HARMLESS

Last Saturday night, a group of mostly middle-aged people, all honest,
hard-working Albertans dressed up in Hawaiian shirts and grass skirts,
got together at a private house party for a little mid-winter blues
buster.

There was lots of food, a live band, and plenty of beer and wine. Out
on the balcony, a few people were smoking pot. Nobody cared. Everybody
was having fun. A little pot-smoking by adults in tacky clothes with
plastic leis around their necks -- hey, what harm can it do?

This is what it does: Four dead cops in a muddy farmyard outside a
quonset hut near Mayerthorpe that housed a grow-op.

"Four brave, young members," according to RCMP assistant commissioner
Bill Sweeney.

All killed by a gunman, reportedly a loner who lived in a trailer
outside of town. According to one person close to the investigation:
"He just cut them down."

I didn't smoke any pot on Saturday night. The last person to be a
prude about the stuff is yours truly, but I haven't touched it much in
20 years. Today's marijuana is no longer the harmless skunkweed of the
1970s. It's a high-potency stone that, last time I tried it five or so
years ago, made me a paranoid zombie for about two hours -- such fun!
- -- after which, I admit, I rather enjoyed it. Maybe you have, too. But
I can't be part of something that leads to four dead cops in a muddy
farmyard in rural Alberta, or drive-by shootings at a Calgary burger
joint. I just can't.

Today, an ounce of high-grade weed on the streets of Calgary costs
$300 an ounce. Lower-grade pot goes for $180 to $200 an ounce. It's
grown in factory grow-ops by organized crime. Its profits are said to
fund terrorism. Maybe, maybe not. Would legalization solve the
problem? Probably not.

It used to be that grow-ops were a Vancouver problem. Five years ago,
they started coming to squeaky-clean Calgary. In 2001, raids on
grow-ups in the Calgary area netted a street value of $9 million worth
of pot. In 2002, that figure more than doubled, to $19 million. In
2003, it more than doubled again, to $53 million. Last year, the
figure was $101 million.

Last month, members of SAMIT -- the Southern Alberta Marijuana
Investigative Team -- raided the largest grow-up in the city's
history, taking in 2,319 marijuana plants worth $2.9 million from a
single address in Arbour Lake. A few doors away in the same block,
police also found another 376 plants worth an estimated $470,000. A
third grow-up was discovered the same day on Mount Robson Close S.E.,
with 600 plants worth $750,000 removed.

SAMIT, made up of Calgary police, the RCMP and members of CSIS, have
busted grow-ups at nice, residential-looking houses in Calgary that
were back in operation in the same location within weeks.

As of last month, 55 people in the Calgary area have been charged this
year in connection with grow-ops, with plant value estimated $13.5
million.

In 2003, police received 430 tips on Calgary and area grow-ops. In
2004, they received 963. A brochure campaign on how to identify
neighbourhood grow-ups, launched this year, will likely result in more.

With the heat on in cities, factory grow-ops are likely being pushed
into rural areas like Mayerthorpe, where telltale signs of smell and
darkened windows can go unnoticed. This year, drug enforcement units
from Edmonton, Calgary and Red Deer raided a farm near Didsbury and
seized 10 kilograms of crystal methamphetamine worth $500,000.

Thursday's shooting was the biggest one-day loss of life by RCMP
members since the Northwest Rebellion of the 1880s.

"It's devastating," said Sweeny.

Just a little harmless fun on a balcony at a house party in Alberta.
Four dead cops. Go ahead, enjoy yourself.