U.S. Marijuana Traffickers Establishing Bases In B.C.

OTTAWA - Several American marijuana-trafficking syndicates are using
British Columbia as a centre of operations to smuggle potent "B.C. Bud" to
the United States, reveals a new intelligence report.

The U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration report says cannabis cultivation
in B.C. has become a billion-dollar industry that will "encourage expansion
of the marijuana trade" in North America.

The recently released report, by the DEA's intelligence division, was
completed last December, based in part on information from the RCMP and
other Canadian authorities. The analysis provides new insight into the
lucrative B.C. marijuana business, including the extent of U.S. involvement
in the phenomenon.

Although the term B.C. Bud refers to the bud of the female cannabis plant,
rich in the psychoactive chemical THC, it has become synonymous with
high-grade Canadian pot, notes the DEA report.

Canadian growers employ the most current methods, using high-tech equipment
to electronically regulate temperature, light and nutrients in hydroponic
greenhouses.

Marijuana grown under these conditions contains a percentage of THC ranging
from 15% to as much as 25%, far more than the naturally grown cannabis
plants of the 1970s.

Authorities estimate there are as many as 3,000 hydroponic greenhouses in
the Vancouver area, housed largely in rental properties. Indoor cultivation
has spread to other regions of Canada, including the Prairie provinces,
Ontario and Quebec, where premier pot is marketed as "Quebec Gold."

In British Columbia, police intelligence indicates Canadian-based outlaw
motorcycle gangs such as the Hells Angels, Vietnamese gangs, and various
white and Hispanic groups smuggle marijuana into the United States. "It is
important to note that no one criminal element has a monopoly on the
marijuana trade," says the DEA report.

"Moreover, DEA reporting suggests that several U.S.-based
marijuana-trafficking organizations now are using British Columbia as a hub
of operations and are exploiting the vast United States-Canadian border."

Hells Angels drug-trafficking operations in the United States have
experienced setbacks, but profits from those based in Canada reportedly are
being used to "revitalize the gang" in the United States, notes the report.

B.C Bud sells for up to $4,400 US ($6,840 Cdn) per kilogram in Vancouver,
as much as $6,600 US ($10,260 Cdn) in Washington state and $13,200 US
($20,520 Cdn in California. In New York City, Canadian marijuana has sold
for up to $17,600 US ($27,360 Cdn) per kilogram.

"DEA officials in Portland, Maine, report that high-potency Canadian-grown
marijuana is sold in the region at up to five times the price of domestic
and Mexican marijuana," says the report.

A cannabis grower with a 50-plant hydroponic operation who harvests three
crops of 15-per cent potency a year can make $225,000 Cdn after expenses.

"Canadian law-enforcement officials estimate that cannabis cultivation in
British Columbia now yields a billion-dollar annual profit."

Across Canada, the number of marijuana plants seized more than tripled to
954,700 in 1999 from 296,000 in 1995.

Police in B.C. now raid about eight indoor growing operations a day. The
number of cases jumped 30 per cent to 3,279 in 1999 from 2,351 in 1998.

The U.S. Customs Service reports the amount of marijuana intercepted along
the B.C.-Washington border increased nine-fold between 1994 and 1999.