ISLAND POT GROWERS LOSE ILLICIT FORTUNE TO RCMP HARVEST

COMOX -- It's harvest time for B.C's largest cash crop. Unfortunately
for some Vancouver Island growers, their produce isn't going to market.

Instead the RCMP will burn their marijuana.

During this past week RCMP and military helicopters have been whirling
over dozens of marijuana grow sites.

Mounties pluck out plants then destroy them, just as buds are
beginning to appear and a bit before harvest time.

The buds are prized because they have the highest concentration of the
mind-altering THC.

``Growers will say it is not a big deal,'' said RCMP Cpl. Pete
Zubersky, a drug awareness co-ordinator in Victoria. ``But this is the
Number 1 cash crop in B.C.''

Targets for this sweep include operations in or around Sooke,
Metchosin, Port Alberni, Lake Cowichan, Nanaimo, Comox, Courtenay and
Texada and Lasqueti islands.

Since the raids started Aug. 23, police have uprooted 4,000 plants,
including 1,000 plants on Texada Island on Monday.

Mounties have several other outdoor grow operations in their sights
for this week but won't say where because they don't want to tip off
growers.

Many growers argue the police sweeps are over the top, insisting they
are just supplementing meagre earnings or growing for personal use.

But it's not only a big deal, it's big business, Zubersky
insists.

This is the second such blitz. The first was in 1997 when Mounties
yanked out 6,550 plants. Though cops, growers, dealers and customers
dispute the value, the RCMP estimates a plant's worth at $1,000.
That's more than $6.5 million by their estimates.

They say that is enough pot for at least two joints for every person
in B.C.

The operation, planned to run almost daily Aug. 23 to Sept. 1 or 2,
will employ at least 20 police officers, with teams of eight on each
of its helicopter as well as a support team.

As well, there will be two military helicopters and personnel, a
police boat and various vehicles.

``The bottom line is it is hard to put a cost on it,'' Zubersky
said.

But he added that there is no overtime, so the manpower and equipment
would be in use in any case for work or training. ``It is not a huge
taxpayer burden.''

The operation didn't start just last week. In recent months, Mounties
have been scouting out pot patches, separating them from industrial
hemp fields, and pinpointing co-ordinates for pilots to use on picking
day.

Hemp operations, which are legal, are also abundant on the island and
have look-alike plants - so similar that kids sometimes steal them
thinking they've made a score.

The THC content (the active ingredient in the plant) of legally grown
hemp can't exceed .3 per cent, a fraction of that in marijuana plants
that have upwards of seven per cent. Hemp is manufactured into
everything from rope to house linens and fashionable clothing.

Arrests resulting from the aerial raids are unlikely because it is
difficult to determine who is cultivating the pot and manpower is
limited for gathering evidence on the growers. Also, some people grow
the lucrative crop on Crown land, away from their homes.