DOWN ON THE BORDER ...

Organised crime figures have turned parts of the Victorian border with South
Australia into a drug bazaar where they trade potent marijuana for harder
drugs such as ecstasy and heroin.

The booming trade results from liberal laws in South Australia that allow
people to grow up to 10 marijuana plants a year, capable of producing up to
13 kilograms of cannabis, for personal use - worth a potential $300,000 a
year.

Police on both sides of the border blame the lax laws for turning routes
between Adelaide and the eastern seaboard into superhighways used for the
transport of drugs.

The number of plants allowed under the law was briefly reduced to three in
April last year, a move welcomed by police. The limit was overturned in
March and returned to 10. SA Police Minister Robert Brokenshire says he
hopes to have the number reduced to three again by October.

The recently retired head of the Victoria Police drug squad, John McKoy,
says: "Ten plants is a ridiculously high number to have in any one person's
possession. Every criminal in SA has been enlisted to grow the allocated 10
plants by larger syndicates.

"Intelligence reports indicate marijuana laws are used by gangs to buy
harder drugs in Melbourne and Sydney."

Police also fear that bikie gangs have moved in to control the drug routes
and that SA crime figures now reap much of the estimated $5billion spent
annually by Australians on marijuana.

Independent MP Russell Savage, from Mildura, says marijuana traffic to the
eastern seaboard from South Australia is regularly intercepted in his
electorate. "It is commonly believed that plants grown in South Australia
are supplying the drug industry interstate," Mr Savage says.

One officer from western Victoria told The Sunday Agethat his station
intercepted up to 10 cars a month travelling between SA and Victoria with
significant amounts of drugs.

"Certainly criminals are running cannabis interstate in exchange for hard
drugs," Mr McKoy added.

South Australia's law has seen Adelaide dubbed the "Amsterdam of the south".

South Australia's Detective Chief Superintendent Denis Edmonds says that the
10-plant law was introduced in 1987 - when growing techniques were less
sophisticated - and that significant amounts of SA-grown hydroponic cannabis
were now shipped from the state to Victoria and New South Wales.