DRUG CHARGES LAID AGAINST 29 PEOPLE NETTED IN POT RAIDS

(CP) Twenty-nine people have been arrested on drug charges after a
provincewide crackdown on marijuana growers Wednesday.

Some of the accused appeared in courts across the province yesterday, said
Sgt. Jean Audette, a Surete du Quebec spokesman. Of the 29 arrests, 13 were
in Greater Montreal.

In all, 13,241 plants were seized in nine regions of Quebec during the
day-long operation. "The value is hard to estimate, but if the plants
seized were all of average quality, there would be enough marijuana each
day for 2,000 high-school students for seven years," Audette said.

A total of 259,441 plants have been seized since the beginning of Operation
Cisaille 2002, a joint operation involving the RCMP, the SQ and municipal
forces.