WAR ON POT-GROWING 'A FAILURE'

Police Have Failed To Reduce Marijuana Operations, Study Says

Police have devoted significant resources to battling illegal
marijuana-growing operations in B.C., but have yet to produce visible
results, says a study by researchers at the University College of the
Fraser Valley.

"At best, it would seem, they have succeeded in some cases in producing a
slight displacement of the problem from one area to another, or from one
neighborhood to another," says the report, released Thursday.

The project, described as the first comprehensive study of the justice
system's response to marijuana-growing operations and marijuana trafficking
in B.C., involved a review of all cases of alleged marijuana cultivation
coming to police attention between Jan. 1, 1997 and Dec. 31, 2000.

The study found B.C.'s illicit marijuana-growing operations jumped 222 per
cent between 1997 and 2000.

"If our objective so far was to reduce the availability of marijuana in the
province, we are not succeeding," said UCFV professor Yvon Dandurand.

"In spite of the fact that we are devoting more law enforcement and other
resources each year to address the problem, there is more marijuana grown
and available in British Columbia from year to year.

"It is perhaps time to try a different response."

Vancouver police Inspector Kash Heed agreed there has been an increase in
marijuana growing operationss in B.C., but he noted that since 2000, police
have been targeting the problem much more aggressively. He said they have
been "highly successful" in removing growing operations from the city.

"In Vancouver we investigated 23 grow-ops in 1991, resulting in 36 charges.
In 2001, we investigated 609 grow-ops, resulting in 375 charges, with a
value of $150 million," he said.

"The reports we're getting is the number of grow-ops in Vancouver have
decreased. . . . Given our economical division of labour, we've had a lot
of success."

The study lists the 10 top communities that accounted for 60 per cent of
all cases that came to the attention of police in 2000.

On average, each community dealt with 290 cases and all had experienced
"huge increases" in the number of cases since 1997 -- on average more than
four times what it was in 1996.

In total, there were 2,901 cases investigated in B.C. in 2000.

Vancouver had the largest number of cases, with 663 growing operations
investigated in 2000, while Delta and Coquitlam experienced the most
dramatic increases between 1997 and 2000. Delta had 209 cases in 2000, up
1,293 per cent from 1997 and Coquitlam had 353 cases, up 700 per cent from
the previous four years.

The seven other top marijuana growing communities are Burnaby with 454
cases in 2000; Surrey with 317 cases: Nanaimo with 199 cases; Richmond with
188 cases; Abbotsford with 181; Chilliwack with 177 and Langley with 160.

The study found that as illicit marijuana growing operations become larger
and more sophisticated in B.C., the risks to communities also increase
because of the potential for fires.

"Indoor marijuana operations were sometimes discovered because the property
involved had caught on fire, usually as a result of tampering with the
building's electrical installations to bypass the B.C. Hydro meter and
divert electricity," states the report.

It found that during the period of the study, 3.5 per cent of all indoor
cultivation operations resulted in a building fire.

As well, another 2.1 per cent of buildings where marijuana growing
operations were discovered had other dangers, such as explosives, dangerous
chemical products and even booby traps.

"The evidence indicates that, over the period studied, marijuana grow
operations became larger and increasingly sophisticated, often involving
greater technological enhancements. This, in turn, has led to greater risks
to the communities in which these illicit operations took place due to the
increased risk of fire," the report states.

The study was conducted by faculty and students in the department of
criminology and criminal justice of the University College of the Fraser
Valley in partnership with the International Centre for Criminal Law Reform
and Criminal Justice.