MOUNTIES TO RELEASE DETAILS ON MAJOR BUST

Penticton RCMP are expected to announce today the results of a major
drug investigation targeting marijuana 'grow ops' throughout the South
Okanagan.

Inspector Stew McLeod confirmed police here have cooperated with other
RCMP units in the region to raid several indoor marijuana growing operations.

The operation is believed to have been completed over the past few
days, and McLeod said he expects to release details at a press
conference this morning.

While the actual number of raids has not been released, it is known
local RCMP detachments have been focussing on marijuana growing as one
of their prime targets over the past two years. Last year the
Penticton RCMP Task Force nailed 23 grow ops, as they are commonly
known by police, and seized approximately $5 million worth of marijuana.

It's believed 2000 will be another banner year, and the number of
busts in the last two months alone may rival all of the seizures made
last year.

However, McLeod said earlier this week that police would not be
releasing any details of the arrests prior to Tuesday because they
don't want to endanger ongoing investigations.

Cpl. Sam Fedyk, drug awareness officer for the RCMP Sub-division
headquarters in Kelowna, said the focus on marijuana growers is being
felt all through British Columbia.

Fedyk remembers busting dope dealers 20 years ago whose marijuana was
mostly bags of 'shake' or leaves, with THC levels of three per cent or
less. THC is the active hallucinogenic in marijuana. Today, police are
seizing marijuana with average THC levels of 16 to 18 per cent, and
occasionally as high as 30 per cent.

One local narcotics officer, Const. Terry Jacklin, says the marijuana
out there today is so powerful that it hardly qualifies as a so-called
'soft drug'.

"Some people believe we're not far from seeing people overdose on
THC," Jacklin said.

While there has been a strong movement toward decriminalizing or even
legalizing marijuana, Fedyk says the RCMP remains convinced it should
remain illegal. The main reason, from his point of view, is simply
that marijuana is a health hazard.

"When people say marijuana is a harmless drug, that's just not the
case," Fedyk said. "For one thing, we remain convinced that using
marijuana can lead people to use other drugs.

"If you have an adolescent smoker, eight of 10 are likely to try
marijuana," he notes. "If you have a non-smoking adolescent, only two
of 10 will try it.

"The same way, adolescent marijuana smokers are 85 times more likely
to try other drugs."

As far as direct effects, Fedyk says it's well known that both short
and long-term memory can be badly affected by habitual marijuana use,
but even worse are the carcinogens breathed in with the smoke.

While cigarettes are bad, Fedyk says marijuana joints can deliver from
50 to 100 times the amount of tar to the lungs.

"Why would you want to legalize that?" he asks.