WE SHOULDN'T LET FEDS MESS WITH THE BIGGEST B.C. GROWTH INDUSTRY

You won't catch B.C.'s top cop wearing a "smoke-a-fatty-for-Rebagliati"
T-shirt or pulling a wake-and-bake with a Cheech and Chong video on the tube.

In fact, Solicitor-General Rich Coleman proudly acknowledged yesterday that
he's never inhaled as he tore a strip off the federal government's plan to
decriminalize simple pot possession.

"The marijuana grow operations are tied to organized crime," the former
RCMP traffic cop told me.

"A kilo of marijuana trades kilo-for-kilo for cocaine across the border.
That money is used for methamphetamine labs and illegal guns. It's an
insidious business. We have a substantial number of murders that we're
investigating in B.C. directly related to the drug trade."

Has Coleman ever had a puff of wacky tobacky himself? Even once?

"I have never actually smoked marijuana in my life. Maybe it was my
upbringing. I've never had any desire to try any illegal drugs of any kind."

Coleman's Ward-Cleaverish, just-say-no mentality seems to clash with the
province's Amsterdam reputation for open tolerance of marijuana
cultivation, consumption and culture.

After all, this is a province where no one seemed to be particularly
shocked when a marijuana grow-op was found in a house belonging to an
attorney-general a few years ago. (That would be Ujjal Dosanjh. He rented a
house to a guy who promptly set up a hydroponic operation.)

As an Ontario native, I can confirm that British Columbians have a
different attitude toward pot.

I remember when my college buddy's dad found a joint in his pocket. The old
man went wild and phoned the president of the University of Toronto in an
attempt to track down his son's "pusher." Then I moved to B.C., and
everybody's smoking joints like they're Players Lights. Quite a difference.

But don't count Coleman as part of the B.C. bud brigade.

"It's an illegal drug. It's 20 to 30 times stronger today than it was in
the 1970s. It's fueling all kinds of other activities that are hurting
children and families and communities in this province.

"I don't think it's any time to take a soft approach toward it. It's a time
to take a look at getting tougher."

I respect Coleman's passion on the issue. After all, police so rarely
prosecute small-time possession charges now that we already have de-facto
decriminalization. And when you consider that the B.C. marijuana business
is now estimated at $6 billion a year, "employing" 100,000 people, that
makes it the biggest industry in the province.

There's a good argument that B.C. bud has kept the province's economy
upright through the forestry, mining and fishing meltdowns.

Why let the feds mess with that?