CRACK DOWN ON GROWERS OF MARIJUANA

Ontario Security Minister Says Industry Endangers U.S. Relations

Canada needs stronger judicial sentencing in order to crack down on
marijuana growers, according to Ontario's minister of public safety and
security.

"We're the third largest supplier of high-grade marijuana in the world now
to the United States, behind Mexico and Colombia," said Bob Runciman, MPP
for Leeds-Grenville. "It's not something that we should be very proud of."

Mr. Runciman said he is looking for tougher sentences from the courts,
because current penalties are clearly not enough of a deterrent.

"We want to have stiff minimum penalties, to not allow the judges to have
the latitude to put people on probation or conditional sentences," said Mr.
Runciman, who will push a hard line at this week's meeting of provincial
and federal justice ministers in Calgary.

Many growers see penalties as just the cost of doing business, said the
province's former minister of correctional services.

"The courts don't see these as serious crimes," Mr. Runciman said. "You
have to have quite a team go into these places just to close them down, and
to lay charges and have enough evidence to secure a conviction and then the
courts turn around and give them a slap on the wrist."

An average crop of 300 plants, worth $350,000, could net a nine-month
maximum sentence, but it's not uncommon for judges to impose conditional
sentences, which entail no jail time. An 18-month jail term is the likely
penalty for growing a crop of 20,000 plants, which can yield a $30-million
profit.

But nearly half of those caught with home grows get away with minimal
penalties, according to a study by the University of British Columbia and
University College of the Fraser Valley of marijuana growing operations in
B.C. from 1997 to 2000.

The study, released this June, showed that in 2,255 cases, at least one
offender was charged and convicted, but prison sentences were ordered in
only 18 per cent of these cases.

In Ontario, police estimate that residential growing operations are a
$1-billion annual business. Police in Ontario executed about 160 warrants
for marijuana operations in 2000 and 650 last year.

Ottawa has also been infiltrated by growers.

During the nationwide marijuana crackdown "Project Greensweep" this past
spring, Ottawa police raided 12 homes and seized more than $3.6 million
worth of plants, they said.

Across the country, police confiscated more than 60,000 plants during April
and May, netting a cache worth an estimated $60 million.

Grow house operators can be charged with a number of offences including
possession for the purpose of trafficking, cultivation, theft of
electricity and profiting from the proceeds of crime.

The grow homes also pose risks to neighbours: They're fire hazards.

"These places tend to be very dangerous because they bypass the meters and
use significant amounts of hydro," Mr. Runciman said. "The potential for
fire is pretty significant."

Mr. Runciman is also concerned relations with the United States will suffer
if drug exporting continues at this level, in the face of the U.S. war on
drugs. "This is ... becoming an international problem and in terms of our
ability to maintain good friends to the south," he said.

Meanwhile, the federal government is leaning toward a softer stance on
possession. In this fall's throne speech, the Chretien government indicated
it would "act on the results of parliamentary consultations with Canadians"
and explore the possibility of the decriminalization of marijuana possession."

In September, a Senate report recommended legalizing marijuana.

With files from Citizen news services