GOV'T PUSHES FOR TOUGH LAW ON GROWING POT

A Conservative bill to jail offenders caught growing five or more
marijuana plants was back before the Senate Wednesday, a year after
the Senate made the rare move of watering down the government's
proposals by raising the bar to 200 plants. Justice Minister Rob
Nicholson ignored the Senate amendments when he resurrected his
proposed legislation last spring, and the upper chamber, which has
fewer Liberals than it did a year ago, has less muscle to affect the
bill this time around.

Nicholson warned a Senate committee Wednesday that amending his
proposed legislation again "would severely weaken the bill" so that a
person involved in organized crime could have 150 plants in several
locations and escape jail nonetheless. "This is directed at
traffickers, the people who would sell drugs to children," Nicholson
said.

He said that there is no way that someone who grows 150 plants does
not intend to sell marijuana, although he acknowledged it could be
harder to prove trafficking when a grower is caught with seven plants.

His bill would impose mandatory incarceration for a variety of
drug-related crimes.