B.C. BECOMING THE PROMISED LAND FOR MARIJUANA GROWERS

Federal Solicitor-General Wayne Easter dropped in on B.C. last week.
Between photo-ops, the Surrey RCMP took him on a tour of the city, pointing
out houses that had been busted for marijuana grow operations.

B.C. Solicitor-General Rich Coleman said he made sure his federal
counterpart knew how serious our pot problem has become.

"He said, 'We've got to help you. You guys have a big problem," Coleman
said. "I said, 'Yes, I've been telling you that for 24 months.'"

Coleman, a former cop, is fed up with grow-ops. In a heated statement in
the legislature last week, he savaged pot farmers.

"Grow-ops are an increasingly insidious problem in our society," he said.
"They are the base of organized crime in British Columbia. They fund the
illegal gun trade. They fund the cocaine. They fund the methamphetamine
labs. They are responsible for in excess of 60 homicides that we are
presently investigating . . ."

The province has tried throwing police resources at the problem, and the
pot harvest just keeps getting bigger. Recent estimates have placed the
B.C. bud business at an astonishing $6 billion involving 100,000 people.

Coleman says our judicial system is a joke. When he met with
law-enforcement officials in Washington state, he asked how many grow-ops
they'd busted.

"They just smile," he said. "They think we're just laughable. They say,
'We're not dealing with it. You're the place to do business.'"

The reason, Coleman believes, is a Canadian judicial system that treats
marijuana cultivation and trafficking like jay-walking or spitting on the
sidewalk. A first offence in Washington state carries a minimum three-month
jail sentence.

In B.C., 82 per cent of people charged don't go to jail or even receive a
serious fine, he said: "The fines are like $1,200. We've had cases where a
grower is fined and the judiciary orders the return of his hydroponic
growing equipment so he can go back into business the next day. It's
absolutely ridiculous."

We've become the promised land of pot. Growers are flocking here. In the
2001 B.C. Yellow Pages there were 508 ads for hydroponic equipment -- 50
times as many as in Washington state.

"I don't want to be the place to do business in organized crime," Coleman
said. "We have to push back and take away the value of doing this business
in B.C."

Drug prosecution is federal jurisdiction. Coleman is pressuring federal
prosecutors to demand tougher sentencing. For his part, Coleman is
organizing a "Dialogue on Crime" conference. But don't expect him to spend
more money to crack down on marijuana grow-ops.

His ministry operating budget was cut by $3 million this year. Another $35
million will be cut next year. Thank goodness talk is cheap.