News (Media Awareness Project) - CN BC: Medical Growers Abusing Licenses |
| Title: | CN BC: Medical Growers Abusing Licenses |
| Published On: | 2011-05-25 |
| Source: | Vancouver Sun (CN BC) |
| Fetched On: | 2011-05-26 06:00:50 |
MEDICAL GROWERS ABUSING LICENCES
Lawmakers Have A Tough Time Prosecuting Legal Growers Who Supply
Criminal Traffickers
Last fall, the Abbotsford police drug squad was tipped to a suspected
marijuanagrowing operation in their city.
As they began their investigation, they soon learned that a man in
his 50s who was on parole for a 2007 drug-smuggling conviction was
living in the house.
They gathered evidence and intelligence about the operation. As the
lead investigator prepared his documents to apply for a search
warrant, he made a call to Health Canada.
He was surprised to learn that the house had a medical marijuana licence.
"He didn't make that contact with Health Canada initially because he
identified quite quickly that the target had that early criminal
conviction, so he assumed that there was no way the guy could have a
licence," Const. Ian MacDonald said. "It would make sense, right?"
And that was the end of the criminal case.
"It is one that we ultimately had to say 'OK, that's as far as that
one goes,'" MacDonald said.
Police across B.C. are concerned that medical-marijuana licences are
increasingly being used by gangs and organized crime to grow pot and
sell it. And they say some of those who legitimately need marijuana
for health conditions are falling prey to those who want to misuse
their potentially lucrative Health Canada licences for the illicit drug trade.
A lack of communication between Health Canada and law enforcement
agencies means there is a grey area that gangsters are exploiting for
their own personal gain, police say.
And if those with licences to produce medical marijuana are growing
much more than they're entitled to, police for the most part can't do
much about it.
"There are gangs that definitely have connections to some people that
are involved in legal grows and it certainly looks like they are
trying to expand that way," MacDonald said. "And now you know that in
most circumstances, the police are not getting through the door."
Supt. Brian Cantera, who heads the RCMP's Federal Drug Enforcement
Branch in B.C., said police know the licences are being misused, but
have a difficult time building cases that could hold up in court
because of the medical licences.
"What we are seeing and the intelligence we are receiving is that
largely medicinal marijuana grow ops today are operating solely under
the guise of the licence to protect their criminal activity," Cantera said.
"There are numerous licence holders out there that are growing way
beyond the actual amounts of the licences. There are those who are
possessing quantities far in excess of what their licence allows them."
Not only are some of the legal growers supplying criminal
traffickers, they open themselves up to being violently robbed,
putting themselves and their neighbours at risk, police say.
"In terms of public safety, I have got to remind the public on this
one, medicinal marijuana grow ops come with all the same
ramifications to public safety that illegal ones do," Cantera said.
"If one sets up beside you, you would be absolutely alarmed in terms
of the public safety issue for you."
Cantera said he gets regular calls from people wondering what they
can do if a medical marijuana operation starts beside them.
NOT IN MY BACKYARD
"There is of course the potential for a rip-off and with you living
next door, the potential they'll get the wrong house. We have seen
these things. We are not making this stuff up," Cantera said.
"I have had calls to my office where people have said I will take an
illegal one before I will take a medical one because at least I can
report the illegal one and the police might be able to do something."
Health Canada officials refused repeated requests for an interview to
discuss police concerns about medical-marijuana licences. They did
agree to answer some questions via email, but did not respond to
several followup queries.
The federal government issues three kinds of medical marijuana
licences: One for possession; one for production and a third one for
people designated to grow for medical pot users.
Over the last year, the number of people with licences to possess
medical marijuana more than doubled to 10,500 on April 29, 2011, from
4,869 a year earlier.
Within that group, the number of licence holders more than tripled in
B.C. from 1,368 in March 2010 to 4,869 as of last month.
The total number of production licences nationally also more than
doubled over the last 18 months from 3,576 in January 2010 to 7,967
last month. That includes 5,983 personal use production licences and
1,984 designated person production licences.
Health Canada refused to provide a provincial breakdown for
production licences, claiming that number is protected for privacy reasons.
Government officials did not respond to questions about how a general
provincial figure could violate anyone's privacy.
Cantera said the sheer increase in the number of licences over a
relatively short period could be a sign of the increasing number of
organized crime groups trying to get access to legally grown pot.
Police have collected some data on criminal issues related to the
medical marijuana licences they have encountered. But Cantera said
the data are incomplete as they deal only with the medical growing
operations that have come to the attention of police.
Still, he said, a review of the medical-licence files across Canada
where police have been called in shows that in about 50 per cent of
the cases, the growing operation was linked to someone with a
trafficking or production conviction.
In about a third of the operations police investigated, the licence
holders were growing more marijuana than their licence permitted,
Cantera said, adding that police concerns have been passed on to Health Canada.
Even when police find some criminal activity at legal
marijuana-growing operations, it is often difficult to build a case
for charges, Cantera said.
The fact that a licence exists provides defence lawyers with a
reasonable-doubt argument and makes a criminal conviction unlikely.
A CHALLENGE TO PROSECUTE
"There are not a lot of cases out there where there have been
prosecutions," Cantera said. "Once they get commingled with these
medical licences, it makes it very challenging for prosecutors and
law enforcement to move forward. The criminal element knows that.
"This is where medicinal marijuana is in my view being almost
entirely abused by a lot of people who have actually acquired licences."
Health Canada official Leslie Meerburg cited regulations when asked
about the abuse police have documented.
"Individuals who disregard the requirements of the Controlled Drugs
and Substances Act and its regulations, or the terms and conditions
of their authorization to possess and/or licence to produce, may be
subject to law enforcement measures," she said in an email.
And she quoted the regulation that licence-holders must provide
documentation that they have not been found guilty of a drug offence
over the last 10 years.
Police say that sometimes the spouse of a licence holder is the one
with the criminal record for trafficking, yet that does not affect
the issuance of a licence.
Meerburg said Health Canada works closely with police to ensure
criminals are not abusing the system.
"Health Canada is currently considering measures to reform the
Marijuana Medical Access Program and its regulations," she said. "In
its considerations, the department is focusing on three key
objectives: public health, safety and security; providing access to
marijuana for medical purposes and examining the overall costs to
Health Canada."
Just last month, Prince George RCMP executed a search warrant at a
duplex in relation to a marijuana-growing operation. In one half of
the duplex, they found 308 pot plants growing and 45 pounds of dried marijuana.
They also found a homemade door through the wall and into the other
half of the duplex, whose occupants had two medical marijuana licences.
"Far more plants were being produced than allowed," Cpl. Craig
Douglass said in an interview.
"A second search warrant was obtained for the other half of the
duplex. A total of 216 plants were located on this half of the
duplex. The Health Canada permits were for 49 plants and 73 plants,
for a total of 122 plants. The excess 90 plants were removed by police."
There was also hashish in the residence and one of the Health Canada
permits was for a Burnaby address, not the Prince George duplex. A
20-yearold woman and a 32-year-old man were arrested and later
released. The investigation continues, but no charges have yet been laid.
Douglass said the duplex scenario is not unique in Prince George and
the surrounding area, where police are seeing more medical growing
operations with production well in excess of what is stipulated on the licence.
"We certainly are coming across it," Douglass said. But because of
the legal permit, "it makes it much more difficult for us to get a warrant."
At a growing operation in Okanagan Falls last year, Penticton RCMP
found three medical marijuana licences with the names on them not
associated with the property.
GUNS SEIZED
They also found two loaded guns and pot far in excess of what was
stipulated on the licences, Cpl. Brad Myhre said. Some of the plants
on the site were the size of small Christmas trees.
Two men were arrested. Charges were approved against only one of
them: Robert Ryan Brown, 40, faces charges of production of a
controlled substance and possession for purpose of trafficking. He is
due back in court in October.
Myhre said the two guns -a .357 magnum handgun and a loaded .30-30
calibre rifle -were seized, but no charges were approved in
connection with them.
Back in Abbotsford, police have also encountered growing operations
where the licences have been combined, creating much larger
operations that become the target of thieves.
"The largest legal marijuana site that we are aware of is actually
the combination of three licences and each of the licences is for 195
plants -so that is almost 600 plants," MacDonald said. "So each of
the licences allows for the storage of 8.75 kilograms of dried
marijuana in addition to the plants.... How would they go through
that quantity of dried marijuana?" MacDonald said another local
resident, who just got a medical growing licence this year, was
involved in two earlier police incidents.
In 2005, the man was the subject of a Ministry of Children and Family
Development investigation after 160 illegal plants were found in his
home. The following year, shots were fired at his house when someone
attempted to rob his illegal growing operation.
kbolan@vancouversun.com
MEDICAL MARIJUANA
A FOUR-PART SERIES
FRIDAY: Health vs. safety: Municipalities raise concerns over grow ops
SATURDAY: The human case for medical marijuana
TUESDAY: The law
TODAY: Criminal concerns
Lawmakers Have A Tough Time Prosecuting Legal Growers Who Supply
Criminal Traffickers
Last fall, the Abbotsford police drug squad was tipped to a suspected
marijuanagrowing operation in their city.
As they began their investigation, they soon learned that a man in
his 50s who was on parole for a 2007 drug-smuggling conviction was
living in the house.
They gathered evidence and intelligence about the operation. As the
lead investigator prepared his documents to apply for a search
warrant, he made a call to Health Canada.
He was surprised to learn that the house had a medical marijuana licence.
"He didn't make that contact with Health Canada initially because he
identified quite quickly that the target had that early criminal
conviction, so he assumed that there was no way the guy could have a
licence," Const. Ian MacDonald said. "It would make sense, right?"
And that was the end of the criminal case.
"It is one that we ultimately had to say 'OK, that's as far as that
one goes,'" MacDonald said.
Police across B.C. are concerned that medical-marijuana licences are
increasingly being used by gangs and organized crime to grow pot and
sell it. And they say some of those who legitimately need marijuana
for health conditions are falling prey to those who want to misuse
their potentially lucrative Health Canada licences for the illicit drug trade.
A lack of communication between Health Canada and law enforcement
agencies means there is a grey area that gangsters are exploiting for
their own personal gain, police say.
And if those with licences to produce medical marijuana are growing
much more than they're entitled to, police for the most part can't do
much about it.
"There are gangs that definitely have connections to some people that
are involved in legal grows and it certainly looks like they are
trying to expand that way," MacDonald said. "And now you know that in
most circumstances, the police are not getting through the door."
Supt. Brian Cantera, who heads the RCMP's Federal Drug Enforcement
Branch in B.C., said police know the licences are being misused, but
have a difficult time building cases that could hold up in court
because of the medical licences.
"What we are seeing and the intelligence we are receiving is that
largely medicinal marijuana grow ops today are operating solely under
the guise of the licence to protect their criminal activity," Cantera said.
"There are numerous licence holders out there that are growing way
beyond the actual amounts of the licences. There are those who are
possessing quantities far in excess of what their licence allows them."
Not only are some of the legal growers supplying criminal
traffickers, they open themselves up to being violently robbed,
putting themselves and their neighbours at risk, police say.
"In terms of public safety, I have got to remind the public on this
one, medicinal marijuana grow ops come with all the same
ramifications to public safety that illegal ones do," Cantera said.
"If one sets up beside you, you would be absolutely alarmed in terms
of the public safety issue for you."
Cantera said he gets regular calls from people wondering what they
can do if a medical marijuana operation starts beside them.
NOT IN MY BACKYARD
"There is of course the potential for a rip-off and with you living
next door, the potential they'll get the wrong house. We have seen
these things. We are not making this stuff up," Cantera said.
"I have had calls to my office where people have said I will take an
illegal one before I will take a medical one because at least I can
report the illegal one and the police might be able to do something."
Health Canada officials refused repeated requests for an interview to
discuss police concerns about medical-marijuana licences. They did
agree to answer some questions via email, but did not respond to
several followup queries.
The federal government issues three kinds of medical marijuana
licences: One for possession; one for production and a third one for
people designated to grow for medical pot users.
Over the last year, the number of people with licences to possess
medical marijuana more than doubled to 10,500 on April 29, 2011, from
4,869 a year earlier.
Within that group, the number of licence holders more than tripled in
B.C. from 1,368 in March 2010 to 4,869 as of last month.
The total number of production licences nationally also more than
doubled over the last 18 months from 3,576 in January 2010 to 7,967
last month. That includes 5,983 personal use production licences and
1,984 designated person production licences.
Health Canada refused to provide a provincial breakdown for
production licences, claiming that number is protected for privacy reasons.
Government officials did not respond to questions about how a general
provincial figure could violate anyone's privacy.
Cantera said the sheer increase in the number of licences over a
relatively short period could be a sign of the increasing number of
organized crime groups trying to get access to legally grown pot.
Police have collected some data on criminal issues related to the
medical marijuana licences they have encountered. But Cantera said
the data are incomplete as they deal only with the medical growing
operations that have come to the attention of police.
Still, he said, a review of the medical-licence files across Canada
where police have been called in shows that in about 50 per cent of
the cases, the growing operation was linked to someone with a
trafficking or production conviction.
In about a third of the operations police investigated, the licence
holders were growing more marijuana than their licence permitted,
Cantera said, adding that police concerns have been passed on to Health Canada.
Even when police find some criminal activity at legal
marijuana-growing operations, it is often difficult to build a case
for charges, Cantera said.
The fact that a licence exists provides defence lawyers with a
reasonable-doubt argument and makes a criminal conviction unlikely.
A CHALLENGE TO PROSECUTE
"There are not a lot of cases out there where there have been
prosecutions," Cantera said. "Once they get commingled with these
medical licences, it makes it very challenging for prosecutors and
law enforcement to move forward. The criminal element knows that.
"This is where medicinal marijuana is in my view being almost
entirely abused by a lot of people who have actually acquired licences."
Health Canada official Leslie Meerburg cited regulations when asked
about the abuse police have documented.
"Individuals who disregard the requirements of the Controlled Drugs
and Substances Act and its regulations, or the terms and conditions
of their authorization to possess and/or licence to produce, may be
subject to law enforcement measures," she said in an email.
And she quoted the regulation that licence-holders must provide
documentation that they have not been found guilty of a drug offence
over the last 10 years.
Police say that sometimes the spouse of a licence holder is the one
with the criminal record for trafficking, yet that does not affect
the issuance of a licence.
Meerburg said Health Canada works closely with police to ensure
criminals are not abusing the system.
"Health Canada is currently considering measures to reform the
Marijuana Medical Access Program and its regulations," she said. "In
its considerations, the department is focusing on three key
objectives: public health, safety and security; providing access to
marijuana for medical purposes and examining the overall costs to
Health Canada."
Just last month, Prince George RCMP executed a search warrant at a
duplex in relation to a marijuana-growing operation. In one half of
the duplex, they found 308 pot plants growing and 45 pounds of dried marijuana.
They also found a homemade door through the wall and into the other
half of the duplex, whose occupants had two medical marijuana licences.
"Far more plants were being produced than allowed," Cpl. Craig
Douglass said in an interview.
"A second search warrant was obtained for the other half of the
duplex. A total of 216 plants were located on this half of the
duplex. The Health Canada permits were for 49 plants and 73 plants,
for a total of 122 plants. The excess 90 plants were removed by police."
There was also hashish in the residence and one of the Health Canada
permits was for a Burnaby address, not the Prince George duplex. A
20-yearold woman and a 32-year-old man were arrested and later
released. The investigation continues, but no charges have yet been laid.
Douglass said the duplex scenario is not unique in Prince George and
the surrounding area, where police are seeing more medical growing
operations with production well in excess of what is stipulated on the licence.
"We certainly are coming across it," Douglass said. But because of
the legal permit, "it makes it much more difficult for us to get a warrant."
At a growing operation in Okanagan Falls last year, Penticton RCMP
found three medical marijuana licences with the names on them not
associated with the property.
GUNS SEIZED
They also found two loaded guns and pot far in excess of what was
stipulated on the licences, Cpl. Brad Myhre said. Some of the plants
on the site were the size of small Christmas trees.
Two men were arrested. Charges were approved against only one of
them: Robert Ryan Brown, 40, faces charges of production of a
controlled substance and possession for purpose of trafficking. He is
due back in court in October.
Myhre said the two guns -a .357 magnum handgun and a loaded .30-30
calibre rifle -were seized, but no charges were approved in
connection with them.
Back in Abbotsford, police have also encountered growing operations
where the licences have been combined, creating much larger
operations that become the target of thieves.
"The largest legal marijuana site that we are aware of is actually
the combination of three licences and each of the licences is for 195
plants -so that is almost 600 plants," MacDonald said. "So each of
the licences allows for the storage of 8.75 kilograms of dried
marijuana in addition to the plants.... How would they go through
that quantity of dried marijuana?" MacDonald said another local
resident, who just got a medical growing licence this year, was
involved in two earlier police incidents.
In 2005, the man was the subject of a Ministry of Children and Family
Development investigation after 160 illegal plants were found in his
home. The following year, shots were fired at his house when someone
attempted to rob his illegal growing operation.
kbolan@vancouversun.com
MEDICAL MARIJUANA
A FOUR-PART SERIES
FRIDAY: Health vs. safety: Municipalities raise concerns over grow ops
SATURDAY: The human case for medical marijuana
TUESDAY: The law
TODAY: Criminal concerns
Member Comments |
No member comments available...
