Forbes Hails B.C.'S Marijuana Economy

But U.S. Magazine's Cover Story Got It All Wrong, Officials Say

Forbes, the U.S. business magazine, has chosen to celebrate Canada's
economy on its latest cover, but it's a segment of the economy that chamber
of commerce officials and Canadian law aren't as happy to extol.

The marijuana industry "has emerged as Canada's most valuable agricultural
product -- bigger than wheat, cattle or timber," Forbes' Silicon Valley
bureau chief writes in a cover feature called Inside Dope: Canada's dirty,
well-lit marijuana trade is rich, expanding ... and unstoppable.

"With prices reaching $2,700 a pound wholesale, the trade takes in
somewhere between $4 billion (in U.S. dollars) nationwide and $7 billion
just in the province of British Columbia, depending on which side of the
law you believe."

John Winter, president of B.C.'s chamber of commerce, said yesterday he
hadn't seen the Forbes article, but he wondered how the publicity might
affect B.C.'s investment climate.

"If you're a potential investor in British Columbia, you're going to look
at many factors and, presumably, that is now one of the factors you might
look at. Whether it's considered to be negative or whether it's indicative
of entrepreneurship -- I'm not sure -- whether it's considered negative or
positive."

B.C.'s economy is worth $140 billion Cdn annually; farm produce and
livestock sales total just $2.2 billion.

According to Statistics Canada, forestry and logging were worth a national
total of $5.7 billion in 2002, while crops totalled $8.66 billion and
livestock brought in $3.98 billion.

The Forbes story didn't impress RCMP drug specialists.

"I was flabbergasted when I heard about it," said Sgt. Paul Laviolette, a
project co-ordinator with the Criminal Intelligence Service of Canada.

Comparing Canadian laws and attitudes toward marijuana with those of
Americans, the article says, "The Canadians are even more
cannabis-tolerant. Although they have not legalized the drug, they are
loath to stomp out the growers."

The facts, however, just don't bear that out. There has been little
research on ordinary Canadians' attitudes toward marijuana growers, but
what has been done suggests that while Canadians may overlook marijuana
possession and consumption, growing is another matter.

The federal Liberals' response to growers has not been lackadaisical. The
proposed legislation to ease penalties for possession of marijuana actually
increases penalties for growers.

And police forces' response to marijuana growers has grown tougher. In
Ontario last year police made 1,340 grow-operation busts, up from just 129
in 1999.

"There's more than twice as many busts in just the past few years," said
Sgt. Laviolette.

The story's arithmetic is also somewhat suspect. Forbes says wholesale
prices for marijuana reach about $3,600 Canadian a pound. Growers in B.C.,
at least, say they can only get $1,800 Canadian per pound for AAA-grade
marijuana.