POT BUSTS SOAR HERE

Since January, local RCMP say they've been aggressively seeking marijuana
grow operations as part of a Zero Tolerance campaign.It's Prince George's
own war on drugs.``Our concern is for the health and safety of the
community,'' says RCMP media liaison Const. Mike Herchuk. ``Drugs are just
another vice out there, tearing at the social fabric of our community.

Ideally, we'd like to eliminate the problem completely.''In the first six
months of this year, Herchuk says Prince George RCMP busted 27 marijuana
grow operations in the area. That's an increase of 63 per cent from 11
busts in the first six months of 1998. ``And there are many more coming,''
he says. It's not that there are more drugs, or more "grow ops" out there,
says Herchuk. The increase is directly related to the beefed-up enforcement
policy the Mounties are pursuing.Herchuk acknowledges that Prince George
has, for years, been a major northern distribution centre for illegal
narcotics.

By attacking the marijuana problem at it's source -- year-round indoor and
seasonal outdoor grow operations -- RCMP are sending a message to local
growers and distributors. The message is no operation is too small, no lead
is too insignificant. ``We don't care if you've got 10 plants in the
basement or 1,100 in the back 40,'' says Herchuk. ``A lot of people have
been carrying on around here for years, and have felt very safe about it.
But we're going to get into their face.''