POLICE CITE LAX PENALTIES IN HUGE MARIJUANA TRADE

B.C.'s marijuana is worth more than the Canadian dollar in the United States
and that's not sitting well with the Americans.

B.C. pot is such high quality that a pound of hydroponic bud can be traded
straight up south of the border for an equivalent weight in cocaine, say law
enforcement agencies on both sides of the border.

"The Americans aren't happy with us," said Cpl. Pete Zubersky, a drug
awareness co-ordinator with the RCMP drug squad headquartered in Victoria.

"You know the difference between growing pot here and in Blaine,
Washington?" The penalties for getting caught are stiffer in the United
States, he said.

The lenient attitude toward buyers, sellers and growers in B.C. is a problem
for his jurisdiction, said Craig Chambers, deputy prosecuting attorney for
Watcom County in Washington state.

That has helped turn communities near the border, such as Blaine and
Bellingham, into distribution centres, he said. And only a small percentage
of dealers shipping their pot into Washington get caught, he said.

"It brings a lot of criminal persons into the community," Chambers said,
adding the drug trade attracts a variety of other criminal activity such as
prostitution.

Mounties estimate the B.C. outdoor and hydroponic pot growing is
conservatively a $3-billion-a-year industry. And its links to organized
crime make it a particularly ruthless and dangerous business, police say.

Zubersky said police believe the outdoor pot is sold domestically while the
hydroponic is exported. But the two varieties are often mixed without
informing the buyers, he said.

B.C. hydroponic bud goes for about $6,000 a pound across the border. Whereas
the THC content (the drug that provides the buzz) in outdoor plants can be
seven per cent, it is double that amount in plants grown indoors with
sophisticated lights and precisely controlled fertilization.

And that is what makes B.C. pot among the best in the world. The stuff from
Jamaica, Maui or Acapulco, which was considered strong in the 1960s, is mild
by comparison.

The entire I-5 Highway corridor, which runs from the B.C. border to Southern
California and the Mexican border, is a problem for drug distribution.

"It's a seamless border," said Thomas O'Brien, of the Drug Enforcement
Administration's field office in Seattle.

Canadian and American drug authorities work closely and share information on
the cross-border drug trade. "We work together daily," O'Brien said.

Zubersky said the number of people arrested may be low but studies indicate
that the level of risk affects whether people take chances.

Some growers who lose a crop after putting so much effort into producing are
deterred, he said. "Enforcement is going to catch a small percentage," he
said. "If we don't do anything at all, if there is no enforcement, growers
will feel there are no risks." he said.