60 PER CENT OF B.C. MARIJUANA GROWERS RECEIVE NO JAIL TIME OR FINE

Fewer than one in seven people convicted of growing marijuana in B.C.
over the past two years was sentenced to any time in jail, according
to court statistics provided to The Vancouver Sun.

And growers were even less likely to face jail time in Vancouver --
where fewer than one in 13 received a jail sentence.

Indeed, the majority of marijuana growers in B.C. -- 59 per cent --
received neither jail time nor a fine. Instead, they received only
probation or a conditional sentence to be served at home. In
Vancouver, 83 per cent of growers received neither jail time nor a
fine.

The maximum penalty for growing marijuana is seven years in prison.
There is no minimum sentence.

B.C. Solicitor-General Rich Coleman said he is disappointed the courts
aren't handing down harsher sentences to marijuana growers.

"I think we have to recognize that the courts, though independent,
have to be reflective of the needs of the communities they serve,"
said Coleman.

"I think it's time that they recognize that the whole business of
marijuana growing, tied into organized crime, is a serious pressure on
our communities."

Carol Baird Ellan, chief judge of the B.C. provincial court, was not
available Monday to comment on the sentencing statistics.

Bob Prior, director of federal prosecutions for Vancouver, also was
not available for comment.

Inspector Paul Nadeau, head of the RCMP's Co-ordinated Marijuana
Enforcement Team, said drug investigators are upset with sentences
handed out by the courts.

"It's very, very frustrating for the investigators when they hear
numbers like this," he said.

"It's quite clear when you look at sentences like that, there's very
little risk and the money that can be made is a very high reward. It's
not a surprise that people get into it."

Nadeau said he believes growers are increasingly moving to B.C. from
other provinces and U.S. states where sentences are harsher.

"The low sentences are attracting people to this criminal activity,"
he said. "If the sentencing is not part of the solution, it becomes
part of the problem."

The statistics -- which cover 1,717 marijuana convictions in B.C. from
April 1, 2002, to March 31, 2004 -- were provided by the provincial
government's court services department in response to a request from
The Sun.

In gathering the data, the government only extracted the most serious
penalty for each offence.

So, for example, someone who received both jail time and a fine would
be recorded as receiving a jail sentence but not a fine.

The statistics suggest that, despite growing public anger over
grow-ops and increased police resources devoted to the problem, B.C.'s
courts are even more lenient with growers than they were in the late-1990s.

The sentencing statistics also show that for growers sent to jail, the
average sentence was six months -- 4.6 months for Vancouver growers.