$3.3 Billion Going Up In Smoke

Marijuana has become a cash crop worth a whopping $3.3 billion in B.C.,
thanks to a history of low sentences for growers, police say.

The Organized Crime Agency of B.C. estimates organized crime controls almost
75 per cent of the lucrative grow operations, with the Hells Angels holding
a 60 per cent stake. Approximately 15 per cent is in the hands of smaller
cartels like Vietnamese gangs.

There are an estimated 10,000 marijuana farms in B.C., of which 8,000 are in
the Lower Mainland.

Alex Tyakoff, a tactical analyst for the crime agency, said a police blitz
in April shut down 80 grow ops across B.C. and resulted in the arrest of 96
men and women aged 17 to 45.

Some 14,258 marijuana plants with a value of $8.2 million were seized, he
said.

A month earlier, 90 cops executed 24 search warrants in Burnaby, Vancouver
and Surrey. They charged 31 people and took nine children into the care of
the Children's Ministry.

Tyakoff said a new police data-base has been developed to target grow ops.

Currently 30 police agencies are contributing data, including U.S. bodies
such as the Drug Enforcement Agency, the Border Patrol and Customs Service.

Massive volumes of B.C. bud are smuggled into the U.S., where authorities
have all but declared B.C. a source province for marijuana. Such a
declaration would result in the imposition of trade and other sanctions by
the U.S.

The U.S. recently declared the I-5 corridor from B.C. to California a
high-density trafficking area, which U.S. authorities say is a "dubious"
distinction recognizing B.C. as a major source of the drug.

A recent U.S. anti-drug project, dubbed Project 49 identified more than 450
B.C. gang members suspected of taking drugs across the border.

Cpl. John Furac, who was in charge of Surrey RCMP's Green team from 1995 to
1998, has helped bust hundreds of grow ops. He said police action does not
mean much without harsher sentences by B.C. judges.

"All we need is one judge who makes a bad decision and the rest of them
follow saying this is a precedent," he said. "It is very frustrating. We
grab this guy one day and he is out the next day or next hour. And the
community is suffering the impact, from home invasions on the serious side
to attracting undesirables into an area."