CANADA'S GROWING MARIJUANA PROBLEM

Frank proudly surveys the large log cabin he constructed himself, on
a two-acre plot of aromatic evergreen forest he now owns.

"All this," he says, "was built on marijuana."

Over four years, Frank - not his real name - tended a patch of
marijuana plants in a forest clearing about 45 minutes' walk from
where his cabin now stands.

He regularly pooled his harvests with those of several other growers
in the small British Columbia (BC) town in which he lives, to sell
wholesale to young men from just across the border in the US state of Idaho.

Frank says he made hundreds of thousands of Canadian dollars before
hurriedly leaving the business when his American buyers were arrested.

But tens of thousands of illegal "grow-ops" remain in Canada.
Estimates suggest marijuana may generate up to C$7bn (UKP3.5bn;
US$6.1bn) a year in BC, the sunny province thought to be at the heart
of the industry.

Canada's new Conservative government says people like Frank are a
menace to society, putting drugs on the streets and fuelling
organised crime - and it has vowed to get tough on them.

But critics accuse the government of being wilfully blind to the
historic failures of law enforcement, and ignoring public opinion and
the findings of expert committees in favour of a policy of demonising
marijuana - a policy they liken to the short-lived Prohibition of
alcohol in 1920s and 30s America.

Vietnam Roots

Growing marijuana in BC's thinly populated and rugged interior, Frank
was continuing a tradition - of sorts - said to have arrived with
some 50,000 young American men seeking to avoid being drafted to
fight in the Vietnam war.

But over the intervening decades, the industry has changed. Most of
today's grow-ops are indoors, using artificial light to produce
stronger strains of cannabis.

The industry has also grown. The Canadian statistics agency reports
that in 2004 there were more than 8,000 cultivation offences recorded
- - up from 3,400 in 1994.

Experts deduce that the true number of grow-ops is much greater, as
even large seizures seem to have little effect on the price of marijuana.

The federal police reported in 2002 that the cultivation industry had
reached levels "that could be deemed epidemic in the provinces of BC,
Ontario, and Quebec" - and they also warn that almost every
large-scale operation these days is linked in varying degrees to
organised crime.

"Cannabis is the biggest issue facing law enforcement now," says
Inspector Paul Nadeau of the Royal Canadian Mounted Police (RCMP).

He says smugglers have access to "transport vehicles, planes,
helicopters. The sky's the limit".

He calls for greater deterrents, pointing out that in BC only about
10% of those convicted of growing marijuana face jail terms (the
figure is higher in other provinces), with most offenders getting a
fine or suspended sentence.

He says judges facing a backlog of cases in the courts "have to be
given the means to deal with the problem... We are drowning in the numbers."

In contrast to the previous Liberal administration, which sought
unsuccessfully to reduce penalties for possession, the new
Conservative government pledged in its election manifesto to steer
Canada "off the road to drug legalisation".

It said it would ensure mandatory minimum prison sentences and large
fines for serious drug offenders, including growers.

Consumption Rises

But critics of tougher law enforcement insist it is doomed to failure
- - and has failed.

"I don't advocate smoking anything - I think it's bad for you!" says
Stephen Easton, professor of economics and a senior scholar at the
conservative Fraser Institute think tank, who has studied the
industry in detail.

He and other pro-reform experts accept that there is growing evidence
of a link between heavy cannabis use and mental health problems in some people.

"But has criminalisation been successful in deterring consumption?
The answer is surely no," he says.

In 2004, the Canadian Addiction Survey found 44.5% of Canadians
reported using cannabis at least once - up from 23.3% in 1989.

The proportion of respondents who admitted to using cannabis in the
previous year was 14.1% - compared with 9.7% of Britons and 10.6% of
Americans in equivalent surveys.

Instead of spending half a billion Canadian dollars each year
tackling illicit drug use, Professor Easton argues, federal
authorities have an alternative: "Tax and trade it like any other
normal commodity."

In fact, several government committees tasked with evaluating
Canada's drug laws have recommended legalisation of marijuana - from
the 1972 Le Dain Commission to the Senate Special Committee on
Illegal Drugs which reported in September 2002.

A recent survey suggested 51% of Canadians supported
decriminalisation of marijuana.

Prohibition 'Empires'

"There have been studies galore in Canada and elsewhere looking at
this issue - it's politics that's stopping [a change in drug laws]
and not logic," says lawyer Eugene Oscapella, a founding member of
the independent Canadian Foundation for Drug Policy.

"It's hypocrisy, it's cowardice," he says - a charge the justice
ministry declined to comment on.

Mr Oscapella suggests Canada is fearful of crossing the US
government, which he says has threatened to slow bilateral trade
worth about US$1bn per day.

Some 85% of marijuana grown in BC is estimated to be exported into
the US, though total border seizures of marijuana only amount to
about 3% of that discovered entering the US from Mexico.

Mr Oscapella also argues that some sectors have an interest in
maintaining what he calls the "Prohibition" on marijuana in Canada.

"You have to look at Prohibition as an industry: the crime-control
industry. There are empires built around it - not only organised
crime, but government bureaucracies, police departments, privatised
prison industries in the US, pharmaceutical and drug-testing
companies. These empires thrive on Prohibition."

He says he fears tougher enforcement will lead to a burgeoning prison
population, but have little impact on the illicit industry.

Meanwhile, critics charge, the proceeds of the industry continue to
feed what a recent editorial in the Vancouver Sun newspaper called
the "monster" of organised crime.

As early as 2000, RCMP Commissioner Giuliano Zaccardelli warned this
"monster" was threatening to destabilise Canada's parliamentary system.

'Pay the Price'

But police insist tougher sentences, not legalisation of cannabis, is
what is needed.

This argument is echoed by the new Ottawa government, though it says
it will take advice before formulating a detailed drugs policy. It
argues any resultant increase in spending on tougher law enforcement
will be offset by lower spending on the social problems caused by drug abuse.

"Parents and police officers agree the last thing we need is more
drugs on the streets," says the Ministry of Justice's acting
communications director Patrick Charette.

"There has been a huge inconsistency in the application of the law -
whether you're caught with a joint in a small rural community or
downtown Vancouver, you'll get [a different] reaction from the police...

"Rather than simplifying and having a more relaxed approach, we think
you need to enforce the law and make sure those caught with drugs and
producing drugs pay the price."