MARIJUANA GROWERS GET OFF WITH LENIENCE IN THE COURTS

A Vancouver Sun investigation shows some growers pay no fines and serve no time.

The Vancouver Sun reviewed the cases of 112 people charged with growing
marijuana, dating from 1996: Of those: 37 (33%) had their charges stayed 3
(2.7%) were acquitted 72 (64.3%) were convicted.

Of those 72 convicted: 19 (26.4%) received only probation or a conditional
sentence -- no fine or jail. 15 (20.8%) received jail sentences 42 (58.3%)
were fined (Four people received jail and a fine).

Of the 15 who received jail sentences: 12 (80%) received 90 days or less
(lowest: one day in jail) 3 (20%) received more than 90 days, (two received
18 months, one received two years)

Of the 42 people fined: 12 (28.6%) paid $1,500 or less (lowest: $500) 18
(42.9%) paid between $1,500 and $4,000 12 (28.6%) paid $4,000 or more
(highest: $6,000) Average fine: $2,655.97

Only one in five people convicted of growing marijuana in Vancouver over the
past three years has been sentenced to any time in jail, a Vancouver Sun
investigation has found.

The investigation also revealed that one in four served no jail time and
paid no fine.

Most of those convicted of producing marijuana (58.3 per cent) received a
fine -- on average less than $2,700.

RCMP spokesman Grant Learned said court penalties like that anger many
police officers, who see ``a $1,000-fine on a $250,000 grow operation as
just the cost of doing business -- no more than a business licence.''

Police forces across the Lower Mainland have devoted considerable time and
money investigating and arresting the operators of marijuana-growing
operations. Some RCMP detachments, such as Langley and Surrey, even have
their own "Green Teams," which are devoted full-time to shutting down
growing operations.

But police have become increasingly frustrated at the penalties given to
operators once they are convicted. Occasionally, police will express anger
that an operator received only a small fine.

And a Sun investigation of more than a hundred cases in Vancouver provincial
court dating back to November 1996 shows that fines are the norm when
marijuana growers come before the courts and long jail terms are rare.

The Sun looked at 112 cases in which people were charged under Section 7.1
of the Controlled Drugs and Substances Act (production of an illegal substance).

Only three people (2.7 per cent) were acquitted.

A relatively high number, 37, (33 per cent) had their charges stayed. In
many cases, the Crown charged a group of people, presumably found together
in a growing operation, and then later dropped charges against some.

Seventy-two (64.3 per cent) were convicted.

Of those 72, only 15 (20.8 per cent) received jail sentences.

(The percentages noted here will not add up to 100 per cent because four
people received both jail time and a fine.)

The average jail sentence was 166 days -- but those numbers were skewed by
three high sentences (two co-accused received 18 months and one person
received two years).

The vast majority of those sentenced to jail time (80 per cent) received 90
days or less, including two people who were sentenced to only one day in jail.

The three who received lengthy jail sentences were also convicted of other
crimes -- such as illegal possession of a firearm -- which may account for
their higher sentences.

Most of those who came before the courts were fined. About a third of those
fined were ordered to pay $4,000 or more -- with the highest fine being
$6,000. Another third paid $1,500 or less, with the lowest fine being $500.
The average fine: $2,655.97.

"If a guy is getting a $2,600 fine on a grow-op that is producing a
quarter-million dollars a year of tax-free drug money, there wouldn't be
very much ... deterrence," Learned said.

More than one in four (26.4 per cent) of those convicted were given
probation or a conditional sentence, serving no jail time and paying no fine.

More than half of those who avoided jail or a fine, 10 of 19, were given
conditional sentences, which allow convicts to serve their sentences in the
community. In such cases, restrictions such as abstention from alcohol or
use of an electronic monitoring device are placed on the person.

Conditional sentences ranged from 14 days to eight months -- with the
average being 118 days.

Vancouver criminal lawyer Michael Tammen said conditional sentences should
not be considered probation. ``From my perspective, a conditional sentence
is a jail sentence.''

Tammen said police have only themselves to blame if they are devoting
significant resources to arresting marijuana growers.

"I don't see why police see grow operations as such a big priority for them.
... In terms of the harm being done it pales in comparison to cocaine or
heroin," Tammen said. "They've spent all this money and made this effort and
judges haven't sent people away to jail. ... I say to the police: 'Tough luck.'"

Vancouver Mayor Philip Owen, who chairs the police board, said he was
surprised the average fine is only a few thousand dollars.

"The fine appears to be just a minor inconvenience and the cost of doing
business," Owen said. "It appears to me to be very low and certainly is no
deterrent."

Learned said the profits of some grow operations can range in the hundreds
of thousands. But he said police have become reluctant to discuss how
lucrative the average growing operation is out of fear a comparison between
low fines and high profits will encourage even more people to take up the
illicit trade.

Neil Boyd, a criminologist at Simon Fraser University, said low sentences
for marijuana production make sense given B.C.'s ambivalence toward
marijuana use.

"The response of the judiciary simply reflects the confusion in our society
about how to deal with marijuana," Boyd said.

While the public generally supports police crackdowns on hard drugs such as
cocaine or heroin, the fact many British Columbians use marijuana on a
regular basis -- and many more have tried it -- means its production and
sale are not looked on as harshly, Boyd said.

A recent poll found 63 per cent of British Columbians thought possession of
marijuana should be decriminalized, Boyd said, the highest rate in Canada.

"I think judges cannot help but be influenced by the culture in which they
live -- and it's appropriate," he said.

Boyd said while the public may support longer jail sentences for violent
criminals, he doesn't think they would advocate spending tens of thousands
of dollars to send more marijuana growers to prison.

However, Learned said growing operations have an overly benign image. Many
of the major operations are "sponsored and subsidized by organized crime,"
he said, which can lead to violence.

The involvement of major crime groups is in part because the drug can now be
grown with a much higher THC-content than decades ago, making it more
lucrative. (THC is the primary psychoactive component of marijuana which is
what gives users a "high".)

Learned said police have some hope the sentencing of marijuana growers is
changing.

In some areas, such as Surrey, judges have been slowly getting tougher, he
said. However, judges are bound by past case law so cannot begin handing
down significantly higher sentences without being challenged on appeal,
Learned said.

"Sentencing patterns are very slow to evolve," he said. Unfortunately, "the
profitability is moving up much quicker."