JUDGES SHOW A SOFT SPOT FOR MARIJUANA GROWERS

Judges in B.C. are far softer on marijuana growers than their Alberta
counterparts, a Province probe shows.

In B.C., people convicted of running major marijuana grow operations
routinely are sentenced to three to six months, and rarely more than a year.

In Alberta they draw terms of up to four years.

The maximum sentence is seven years.

"I think statistically that is right," said former B.C. Supreme Court
Justice Lloyd McKenzie, who represents judges of the B.C. Supreme Court and
the B.C. Court of Appeal.

"There is a variance of philosophy of sentencing in Alberta and British
Columbia. I know that the fact is that they are inclined to impose heavier
sentences."

McKenzie questioned whether harsher sentences would have any impact on
pot-growing.

And B.C. Supreme Court Justice Wally Oppal asked: "Is Alberta better off
than we are? There's nothing to indicate they are."

B.C. police say the disparity in sentencing has turned B.C. into a mecca for
pot farmers.

"We would like to see higher sentences," said Staff-Sgt. Chuck Doucette of
the RCMP's drug awareness program. "We are saying the drug growers are not
being discouraged. They are coming from other provinces here, organized
criminals are getting involved in marijuana growing because there aren't any
deterents."

Doucette claimed court sentences in B.C. are so lenient that crooks who used
to distribute hard drugs are now moving here to grow marijuana because it's
a "low-risk, high-profit" venture.

The Province investigation found that B.C. judges are more likely than
Alberta judges to take mitigating factors into account in sentencing, such
as the accused's chances of turning his life around or the need to care for
family members.

Ronald Reimer, head of federal prosecutions for Alberta, said it is not
uncommon for Alberta judges to hand out sentences of three to four years for
large grow operations. Smaller operations draw sentences of up to 18
months.

Federal Justice department files for the last seven years show one B.C.
judge handed down a three-month sentence to a man growing 1,188 plants. An
Alberta judge gave a man with 604 plants three and a half years.

Earlier this year, B.C. Supreme Court Justice Allan Stewart was cheered by
cops for sentencing a first-time offender to two years less a day. He said
it was time to up the ante for growers, saying they were putting innocent
people at risk. The B.C.Court of Appeal cut the sentence in half.

Here are some othe B.C. sentences:

* In 1998, B.C. Supreme Court Justice Mary Boyd described a 569-plant
grow-op run by a 49 year-old man as "highly sophisticated" and of a
"commercial nature." She called marijuana operations a 1990s "cottage
industry." She sentenced the man to four months in Jail, 12 months probation
and 100 hours of community work.

* In 1997, B.C. Supreme Court Justice Thimersingh Singh sentenced a man to
six months in jail after he was caught with 188 plants. He had 13 prior
convictions, including a conviction for a similar offence nine months
earlier.

* In 1996, B.C. Supreme Court Justice Deborah Satanove said the courts
should be careful "not to impose a punishment which could be construed as
nothing more than the cost of doing business." She sentenced a man convicted
of running a "sophisticated" grow-op with nearly 1,800 plants to six months
in jail and eight months probation.

* In 1995, B.C. Supreme Court Justice William Davies sentenced a man found
with 225 plants to six months in jail. Davies said the offence should carry
a "substantial" penalty, but he was mindful of the fact the man pleaded
guilty "and that he has been active in assisting his parents."

Here are some examples of Alberta sentences:

* In 1996, Justice Mary Moreau of Alberta Court of Queen's Bench sentences a
man to 2 1/2 years in prison on a charge of cultivating 260 plants, despite
pleas from his 70-year-old mom not to lock him up.

* In 1994, three justices of the Alberta Court of Appeal upheld a sentence
of 3 1/2 years for trafficking, three years for cultivating and one year for
theft of utilities.

* In 1990, Alberta Court of Queen's Bench Justice Clarence Yanosik imposed a
sentence totalling four years after police busted a grow operation with an
annual yield of about $2 million.