'IT'S NOT JUST WEED'

Every harvest, he sees strange miniature crop circles in his cornfields that
anybody but a seasoned farmer might believe were put there by aliens.

The circles are staggered evenly along endless rows of withering feed-corn
stalks. They are evidence of Quebec's most profitable cash crop: marijuana.

"By the time I get to my field (usually in mid-October), the marijuana
plants are long gone," he says. "They cut it just after the first frost."

Like every farmer interviewed for this story, he didn't want his real name
used. Too many farmers have been threatened, shot at or seen equipment
vandalized by what they believe to be pot growers.

This is the season when legions of alien trespassers invade the countryside
and cash in on what is now a billion-dollar industry in Quebec.

"It's an industry that's putting a lot of money into the hands of organized
crime," said Lt. Jean Audette of the Surete du Quebec.

Many people dismiss it as "just weed," he added.

"It's not just weed. It's a commodity that makes a fortune and that's what
makes it dangerous. ... All organized crime is involved."

So much money is available that for the first time police have seen Russian,
Italian and biker gangs working together. It's a nationwide problem, they
say.

Staff Sgt. Rick Barnum of Ontario's drug-enforcement squad said most
Canadian-grown marijuana goes to the United States, where traffickers get
$3,000 to $4,000 a pound in the East and as much as $7,000 in California.

"Our marijuana is considered to be phenomenal in other parts of the world,"
he said. "It is traded for cocaine and it hits the streets in Canada as a
clean trade for cocaine. ... We're saturated with marijuana grows."

As co-ordinator of Program Ciseaux (Shears) in Quebec, Audette is the man
ultimately responsible for destroying pot grows. It's not an easy job.

Last year, the SQ confiscated 392,885 plants, compared with 73,491 in 1993.
The huge increase in seizures reflects the enormous expansion of marijuana
cultivation throughout every region of the province.

Marijuana growing and consumption have exploded, and police admit they're
impossible to stop.

It's one of the reasons for the lawlessness that has taken hold in such
communities as Kanesatake.

It's behind the threats and vandalism that have made farmers fearful of
challenging the growers.

Educators worry pot consumption is rising at alarming rates in both primary
and high schools, particularly among boys. In some areas, educators claim
anywhere from 25 per cent to 50 per cent of boys smoke it regularly. One
study claims 1.4 million Quebecers are daily pot users. If that seems high,
police seizures appear to back up that figure.

In schools like those in the province's so-called pot valley along the
fertile banks of the St. Lawrence River, school officials worry that the
industry is criminalizing rural youth. They note that absenteeism is rising
and suspect it is because boys leave school to harvest the pot.

The regional school board of Nicolet-Yamaska formed a special research
committee last month to study the problem. But it's an uphill battle. The
mayor of nearby Pierreville was quoted as welcoming the pot growers as good
for the struggling rural economy.

"The problem is our society doesn't take it seriously," local school
commissioner Gerald Dauphinais said. "We have trivialized it."

Many Canadians mistakenly believe that simple possession of marijuana is no
longer a crime. While federal government reports have recommended
decriminalizing pot, no action has been taken and possession of pot remains
a criminal offence subject to fines or jail terms.

But normally police don't bother with simple possession, which is defined in
law as anything less than 30 grams - about one ounce.

"I can't remember the last time I arrested somebody for possession," one
officer said. "We are after organized crime."

Another officer said the result of this laissez-faire attitude is that
dealers enjoy an unfettered street market in small amounts of pot with the
knowledge that there's practically no downside.

There are concerns that pot is not the same "soft" drug it used to be.
Genetic manipulation has produced strains 10 to 20 times more powerful than
the weed smoked at the long-ago pop festivals of Woodstock, Altamont or
Monterey.

SQ lab tests show the average THC - the psychoactive ingredient in marijuana
- - of plants seized in the 1980s was about one per cent. Now it's eight to 10
per cent, and the SQ has confiscated some pot with levels as high as 22.5
per cent.

"One guy we caught growing it called it wheelchair weed - one toke and
you're paralyzed," a police officer said.

No one disputes that the occasional consumption of pot remains relatively
harmless, said Andre Dontigny, director of public health for Nicolet-Yamaska
region, one of Quebec's hottest pot-growing regions.

"I'm more concerned about the criminality and the impact of that on
society," he said. "We need a national debate on the legalization issue."

Original strains of pot number about six. Now there are more than 6,000
genetic varieties of varied punch, colour and aroma. Many of the most
powerful strains are bred for the harsher Quebec climate and are globally
referred to as "Quebec gold." It's this power-packed weed that often wins
prizes at the annual Cannabis Cup contest in Amsterdam.

It's also the same weed that winds up on the streets of Montreal - the end
of the line for a network of growers, enforcers, pushers and
money-launderers whose business has terrorized the countryside and fattened
the coffers of organized crime.

Billion-Dollar Pot Business

If figures tell the story, the rise in pot seizures speaks volumes.

Over the past five years, police in Canada have seized on average 1.1
million plants a year. This is six times the level of 1993.

Estimating the size of the annual crop across Canada is tricky. But using a
25-per-cent seizure rate, police claim it is 800 tonnes. That's the low end.
On the high end, using a 10-per-cent seizure rate, the crop size is 2,000
tonnes, according to the RCMP's 2004 annual drug report.

The total value of the crop is another mystery. Like any commodity, prices
vary according to supply, demand and quality. Pot growers say a pound of pot
can wholesale for as much as $2,500.

Alain Berthiaume, publisher of the pot smokers' magazine Cannabis Quebec,
said he's still able to buy last year's crop at about $1,640 a pound.

At this low price, and taking the low-end annual crop size of 800 tonnes, it
means the annual crop is worth at least $3.5 billion.

At the high end, it's worth $7.9 billion. This equals half of Canada's total
crop production sales, which was $14.4 billion in 2002.

Quebec is the pot-production leader, with about 40 per cent of annual
seizures. British Columbia is second, at about 30 per cent, and Ontario
third, at about 16 per cent.

Large amounts are exported into the U.S., where customs officials note a
700-per-cent increase in pot seizures from Canada since 2000.